Jan/15: Jeep Renegade still behind. Fiat 500X takes off

Photo by: autopista.es

European small SUV segment posted a positive growth of 30% on January 2015 outperforming overall market by far. While total market was up a tiny 6%, B-SUV sales continued on its positive trend thanks to new launches and demand shift. More than 81.000 small SUVs were sold in Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Market share jumped from 6,47% in Jan/14 to 7,89% one year later, based on JATO Dynamics information. The main contributors to this result are the new launches such as the Citroen C4 Cactus, Jeep Renegade, Ford Ecosport and Fiat 500X. The usual leaders of the segment, Renault Captur, Peugeot 2008, Opel Mokka and Dacia Duster, had a double-digit growth (around 20%) except for the Peugeot, up 8%. The Nissan Juke and the Mini Countryman had the worst results with sales up 2% for the Nissan and down a massive 30% for the Mini.

The Renault Captur continues to lead the market and it managed to increase its sales by a healthy 26%. However the segment’s overall sales growth was explained by the arrival of the new launches. *Others include the Chevrolet Trax, Fiat Sedici, Lada Niva, Suzuki Vitara, SX4 and Jimny. The Mini Countryman figures include the Paceman’s. Source: JATO

During its 5th month on the market, Jeep sold more than 3300 units of its Renegade, which means that January was the second best month, right after December’s peak. The Fiat 500X debuted with a very good volume of almost 2100 units, at 11th position in the ranking. The Fiat results are exceptional considering the fact that the 500X was available at the dealers since January 24th (but it was possible to make pre-orders before that date). Therefore had mix results: the Fiat started quite well whereas the Jeep doesn’t take off as it should had already. The Renegade managed to outsell the Ford Ecosport in the ranking, and gets close to the Mini Countryman (down 30%). However it is still far from the leaders and from the estimated target. The reason for this result isn’t clear but the arrival of the Fiat 500X could have a negative impact on the baby Jeep’s sales. Winter months should be the best time to exploit the Jeep SUV capabilities and if the team doesn’t make use of this period of time, then it will be hard to raise sales in the coming months. February preliminary data indicates that registrations didn’t increase with the exception of Germany and Spain.

In January Italy counted for 59% of the European Renegade sales. That’s similar to the Fiat 500L current dependence on its home market. Italian volume is quite ahead of Frence and German, where the new Jeep got very low segment shares (around 2%, fewer than overall FCA share in those markets). In the case of the 500X, the dependence on Italian market is higher as it was mainly available there since the last week of January. However it had a good start in France with almost 300 units. * estimated figures, During its first month in the Italian market, Fiat hold 10% of the B-SUV segment, not far from the Renegade (on its 5th month). Source: JATO, bilimp.dk, bestsellingcarsblog.com, kba.de, seaa.gr, carmarket.com.pl, drpciv.ro, bilsweden.se, auto-schweiz.ch

Whereas January’s Jeep Renegade demand slightly fell compared to December figures, the Fiat 500X had a very good start. Both models must increase the deliveries a lot if they want to meet their annual targets. *Europe includes: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Source: JATO

Results by countries show that France is once again the largest market for this kind of cars. This is in part due to the good sales levels of the Renault Captur and the Peugeot 2008. Then comes Italy and quite behind there is Germany (no data for the UK). The Renault leads in 6 out of 15 analyzed markets. In Italy, the Jeep Renegade was the 4th best-selling B-SUV, after the Dacia Duster, Opel Mokka and Renault Captur. The 500X occupied the 6th position right after the Peugeot 2008, and ahead of the Countryman and Juke.

Source: bilimp.dk, bestsellingcarsblog.com, kba.de, seaa.gr, carmarket.com.pl, drpciv.ro, bilsweden.se, auto-schweiz.ch