Compact SUVs Are Flying Off The Shelves In Europe.

Perhaps, when you look around, you get the impression that almost everyone drives an SUV-like vehicle these days. That is certainly not the case yet, but the share is growing very rapidly. Last year, nearly 60 percent of all new cars registered in Europe were SUVs or crossovers. In 2020, it was just over 40 percent. This year, things are simply going to get even worse. According to Automotive News, Dataforce calculates that things are moving particularly fast for relatively compact, high-riding models. In that category, sales grew by 12 percent to a market share of no less than 21 percent over the first seven months of this year. This is despite overall sales increasing by only 5.4 percent.

The biggest drivers of that growth are two Volkswagens: the T-Roc and the Tiguan. Indeed, according to Dataforce, the Tiguan is also still classified as a compact SUV. Both Volkswagens accounted for well over 110,000 units up to and including July of this year; the T-Roc even reached just over 115,000 units. Incidentally, both were somewhat more popular last year. In third place is the Kia Sportage (94,146), followed by the Hyundai Tucson (93,682) and the Nissan Qashqai (92,260). The other very popular models are the Peugeot 3008, Skoda Elroq, Toyota C-HR, Ford Kuga, and the Skoda Karoq. Among the fully electric models, the Skoda Elroq stands proudly at the top (67,737 units), followed by the Volkswagen ID4 (46,065) and the Kia EV3 (31,543). The Toyota C-HR (47,055), Kia Sportage (46,311) and Hyundai Tucson (41,863) are the most registered hybrid compact SUV-like vehicles.

The lion’s share (39 percent) of newly sold compact SUVs and crossovers (39 percent) still had at most a mild-hybrid powertrain. Fully hybrid (non-plug-in) follows with a 23 percent market share, and fully electric ranks third with a 19 percent share. Plug-ins and diesels follow with 13 percent and 3.5 percent market share, respectively.

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