Demand For Crossovers Has Grown In Europe

New car sales in Europe in 2019 increased by 1.4% to 15.3 million units. At the same time, the demand for crossovers and SUVs increased more strongly - by 13% (plus 650 thousand units) - and reached 5.7 million cars, reports Automotive News Europe.

• The share of crossovers and SUVs in the European market added 4 points to 37.3%. The most popular segments are compact and subcompact crossovers, with 2.09 million units sold (up 19.9%) and 1.922 million units (up 8%), respectively.
• New bestsellers in these classes are Volkswagen Tiguan (223.1 thousand, plus 1.1%) and Renault Captur (223.6 thousand, plus 4.5%).
• SUVs of premium brands account for a quarter of sales - 1.409 million units (up 11%).
• The demand for large crossovers and SUVs decreased by 30.1%: 10.6 thousand cars were sold. The leader - ToyotLand Cruiser Prado - was chosen by 6.4 thousand people (minus 11.2%).

Sales of electric vehicles increased by 81.7%, to 356.2 thousand units. The leader is TeslModel 3 (94.5 thousand pieces). This is twice as much as that of the closest competitor Renault Zoe (47.7 thousand units, plus 19.9%). The three leaders are closed by Nissan Leaf (32.4 thousand, minus 17.2%). An increased demand for premium electric cars was also registered: Jaguar I-Pace added 93.6% (12.2 thousand), but this is affected by the effect of a low base. And here is the second result of growth - in the BMW i3: plus 76.2% (31.5 thousand units).

Without taking into account the SUV segment, sales of passenger cars went into negative territory. The biggest loss was the audience for class “D” models (minus 13.8%, 403.9 thousand units), as well as coupes and convertibles (minus 16.1%, 50.2 thousand units). Class B - the most massive segment - decreased to 2.685 million vehicles (minus 5.4%); golf-class sales shrank to 2.164 million (minus 4.5%). Subcompact cars sold 1.102 million units (minus 3.9%).

The demand for compact minivans fell immediately by 26.3% (299.5 thousand units), for small ones - by 32.7% (72.3 thousand). Sales of full-size minibuses increased by 4.5% to 145.1 thousand units.