After briefly stabilizing in 2017, sales of small crossovers in Europe continued their booming growth curve with a 29% increase in 2018, to 1.94 million. As a result, this segment now accounts for 12.6% of the overall European car market, up almost three percentage points in a single year. Undoubtedly, over 2 million small crossovers will be sold in Europe in 2019, and it could very easily become the second largest segment after subcompact cars, but overtaking compact cars (the “Golf class”).
It’s not only one of the biggest segments in terms of volume, but also in the number of players, with no less than 28 models by the end of 2018 and another handful of newcomers arriving in 2019. Meanwhile, the Renault Captur celebrates a fifth consecutive year on top of the ranking and remains the only nameplate in the segment to sell more than 200,000 copies per year, and it has done so for three years in a row without any rival coming close, even with a second generation coming out this year. In fact, the Captur’s closest rival in 2018 comes from its own ranks: the Dacia Duster sets a new annual sales record for the third straight year, improving an impressive 24% on last year’s record. Still, the Duster also loses share as that is less than the overall segment growth. The Peugeot 2008 sees stable sales, just like the Captur, but manages to stay on the podium despite losing almost 3 percentage points of share, again: just like the Captur.
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