SUV Sales In Europe Now Outpacing Passenger Cars

Seems Australia isn’t the only corner of the globe to be experiencing ‘SUV fever’, with the European market also taking a shine to the high-riding wagons.

Data from business intelligence company, Jato Dynamics, reveals the SUV segment outsold all other ‘traditional’ passenger car classes in Europe for the first time in 2015.

SUVs now account for 22.5 percent of all new car sales in Europe - up from 19.8 percent in 2014. The ‘subcompact’ passenger car segment was next-best (and not far behind) with a market share of 22.0 percent.

Splitting the SUV segment into sub-categories tells a different story, however, as the high-riders can only claim the top step of the sales podium when combined. 

Also, some SUV segments are outpacing others, with the ‘small’ (up 38 percent) and ‘midsized’ (up 42 percent) classes showing the strongest growth, ahead of ‘large’ (up 27 percent) and ‘compact’ (up eight percent) models.

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