Sales of compact crossovers continue to surge in Europe, with a 30% gain in 2017 to nearly 1.5 million sales or 9.6% of the overall market, up from 7.7% in 2016. The entire top-5 has set new sales records in 2017. We’ve decided to separate the tables of the compact and midsized crossover segments but still feature them in one post and in one graph as the models in these classes are so close to each other in size and there are so many different opinions on which models belong in which of these segments. Combined, sales in these segments are up 32% to 11.9% of the total European car market, of which Renault-Nissan controls 26% and VW Group 20%.
The Nissan Qashqai is still the best selling crossover in Europe, despite adding just 6% to its record volume of 2016 to close in on a quarter million sales. Its closest rival is still the Volkswagen Tiguan, up 31% to become the second nameplate in this segment to top 200,000 sales and to close the gap with the top spot to less than 14,000 sales. The new Peugeot 3008 immediately jumps onto the segment podium with nearly 170,000 sales in its first full year, an impressive performance against any standard. It beats the two South-Korean rivals that have fought for the segment podium for years as well as the Ford Kuga which shows an impressive 27% growth despite being 5 years old already, apart from a facelift in 2016.
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