SUVs (and its crossover counterparts) now account for 1 out of every 2 vehicles sold in Europe.
With every automaker now having at least one SUV or crossover in their current lineup, it really shouldn’t be a surprise anymore as to how popular this class of car is with consumers. Though sometimes the scale of its popularity may not yet be fully appreciated, that is until news like how these high-riding vehicles currently account for half the new cars sold in Europe comes along anyway.
Yes, for the first time ever, one in every 2 new cars sold in Europe now is to be either an SUV or its crossover counterpart. This segment of vehicle accounted for 51% of all new cars delivered to customers in Europe during the first half of 2023, with the 3.37 million units sold in the old continent marking a 3% increase in its market share from the same time last year.
Of the over 3 million SUVs and crossovers sold in the first half of this year in Europe, the most popular model was interestingly something American, as the Tesla Model Y topped the continent-wide sales charts with 138,152 units delivered within that time. In fact, this high-riding EV was the actually the sales king overall too. Beating out the humble Dacia Sandero hatchback, which only managed to shift 124,190 units during the first six months of 2023.
The only other high-riding vehicle to achieve over 100,000 sales meanwhile was Volkswagen’s T-Roc, with 104,465 units of this jacked-up Golf being delivered to customers in the first half of this year. And as if going in decreasing order of size, the third best-selling SUV/crossover in Europe during that time was the Toyota Yaris Cross, with 96,849 units sold.
As expected from looking at the top three best selling SUVs also, it is the small SUVs that are to be the biggest selling sub-segment in Europe during the first six months of this year. Small SUVs accounted for over a third of the overall market share with 1,133,822 cars delivered, while small cars on the other hand only racked up 913,571 sales.
Though while buyers may be flocking in droves right now to these higher-riding vehicles for their more commanding driving position and the perception of an increased on-road presence over their conventional counterparts, it remains to be seen this consistent push towards taller and taller cars will be sustainable or not. This is especially when automakers are already currently battling with ever-tightening emissions regulations, where these SUVs are consistently worse off than their sleeker siblings.
Ultimately however, the automakers will likely not want to slaughter this oh-so-lucrative cash cow just yet, and will sever other less lucrative lines to make things work instead. So to those who are perhaps in the market for a sedan or even a hatchback then, it might be good to start thinking of what to get now before all the currently available choices shrivel up in the coming iterations.
