Learning about cars: the ‘B’ segment

Small cars are popular but when they have better roominess, are a bit more practical and keep being compact, then they become one of world’s most popular segment, the ‘B’. Is the next step after mini cars and they focus on several kind of customers: from better paid single people to begining families. More or less most of car manufacturers offer a model in this segment which is popular in some countries while not really loved in some other important ones. This kind of small cars was born in Europe after Oil crisis in early 70’s, when Europeans realized they could not afford anymore high oil prices and therefore they needed smaller and efficient cars. Today they can be found everywhere and are especially popular not only in Europe, where they have a 25% of market share, but also in Latin America (with 38%), India (36%) and Russia (55%). But they are pretty unpopular in the US (together with ‘A’ segment they represent 4%) and China (15%).

The cars classified in this segment are the ones with length from 3.7 m up to 4.15/4.2 m. It all depends on the market and body type, because some car makers offer sedan version of hatchback ones and then they get more centimeters to their final measure. In other cases, the same car is differently positionate according to the market: Fiat Linea (sold as B segment in India and Europe, while C segment in Brazil), or Honda City (B segment in China and India but C segment in Brazil). Besides, there are some subsegments according to the cost of the vehicle: the low cost ones such as Dacia, Lada and some Indians; medium ones, most of all; and high level ones such as Audi A1, Alfa MiTo, Citroen DS3 and Mini Cooper. Here is the list:

EUROPE

• Alfa MiTo
• Audi A1
• Chevrolet Aveo
• Citroen C3/DS3
• Dacia Sandero/Logan
• Daihatsu Sirion/Materia
• Fiat Punto/Linea (Linea, ‘C’ segment in Turkey)
• Ford Fiesta
• Honda CR-Z/City (City, ‘C’ segment in Turkey)
• Hyundai i20/Accent/Solaris
• Kia Rio
• Lada Kalina/Samara/Priora/Granta
• Lancia Ypsilon
• Mazda 2
• Mini Cooper
• Nissan Micra
• Opel Corsa
• Perodua Myvi (only in the UK)
• Peugeot 206/207
• Proton Savvy/Satria (in the UK)
• Renault Clio/Zoe
• Seat Ibiza
• Skoda Fabia
• Subaru Justy
• Suzuki Swift
• Toyota Yaris
• VW Polo/Beetle

AUSTRALIASIA

• Chery Cowin 1
• Chevrolet Sail/Lova
• FAW Xiali (China)
• Ford Figo (India)
• Great Wall Voleex
• Haima 2 (China)
• Hindustan Ambassador (India)
• Holden Barina (Australia)
• Hyundai Getz
• JAC J3
• Lifan 320 (China)
• Mahindra Verito (India)
• Maruti D-Zire (India)
• MG3 (China)
• Skoda Rapid (India)
• Tata Indica/Indigo/Vista/Manza (India)
• Toyota Rukus (Australia)/Vios (South East Asia and China)
• Toyota Etios/Livia (India)
• VW Polo/Vento (India)

LATINAMERICA

• Chevroler Corsa/Agile/Cobalt
• Fiat Palio/Siena
• Renault Symbol (also in Turkey)
• VW Gol/Voyage/Parati

 

Click here to see ‘C-Passenger’ Segment

Click here to see ‘A-Passenger’ Segment

 

*Data source: FGW data base