European vehicle sales grew by just 1.4 percent to 15.3 million last year, but volumes of SUVs and crossovers of every size and price grew by 13 percent to 5.7 million, adding 650,000 annual sales to a sector that in 2018 grew by 18 percent — or 800,000 units — to 5 million.
The latest surge in demand meant that SUVs and crossovers grew to 37 percent of total European sales, up from 33 percent in 2018 and 29 percent in 2017, figures from market researcher JATO Dynamics show.
A closer look at the seven SUV and crossover segments shows that the small SUV sector, led by the Renault Captur, nearly overtook compact SUVs to become Europe’s biggest SUV segment. Last year, small SUV sales grew 20 percent to 1.92 million units while the compact SUV sector was up 8 percent to 2.09 million.
Via Automotive News
