SUVs represented the single biggest category of car sales in Europe for the first time in 2015, according to JATO Dynamics, a leading supplier of automotive industry data. Their market share grew from 19.8 per cent in 2014 to 22.5 per cent in 2015, leaving sub-compacts in second position with a 22.0 per cent share, and the compact segment third with 20.6 per cent. These vehicles, along with the mid-size saloons/estates and sports cars, were the only segments to gain market share in 2015.

“Similar to the shift towards SUVs in the US car market, Europeans are clearly favouring these vehicles. In 2015 this segment drove most of the growth as more consumers moved away from the traditional segments and MPVs, towards SUVs and crossovers. Both economic and social factors such as the lower fuel prices and the growing appeal of SUVs’ benefits had a big influence on this sales boom” said Felipe Munoz, Global Automotive Analyst at JATO Dynamics.

The SUV growth was partly the result of strong growth in the sales of small SUVs, which contributed almost 38 per cent of total SUV registrations. Their volume increased by 38 per cent over 2014, exceeding, for the first time, the one million unit mark at 1.2 million – although that was still less than sales of compact SUVs, which accounted for 40 per cent of the total at 1.28 million units. Small SUV growth was also outperformed by the 42 per cent increase posted by mid-size SUVs, which totalled 470,400 units. The large SUVs came last with 243,000 units, up by 27 per cent on 2014. SUV registrations grew in all of the 29 countries analysed, with the UK posting the highest volume increase from 501,200 units in 2014 to 630,400 in 2015. Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Croatia and Greece all posted more than 40% growth.