Jeep’s Renegade is quickly becoming the dominant force in the subcompact crossover segment, leading all others in sales for the month and topping the second-place Subaru Crosstrek by nearly 2,000 sales.
The Renegade‘s monthly and yearly increases are exaggerated because it only just came out in March of last year, but comparing sales to February of this year, the little crossover saw its sales increase by 2,100. It was the top-selling vehicle in the segment in 2015 despite not being available for the whole year.
The Subaru Crosstrek (it lost the XV part of its name) came in second place, but had sales drop for the month and for the year.
Buick’s Encore continues to surprise with its sales numbers, coming in third place and again beating out its platform mate, the Chevrolet Trax, despite having a smaller dealer network. The Encore was one of the pioneers in the segment along with the Nissan Juke.
Speaking of the Juke, it continues to lose ground compared with last year, even though its sales are pretty stable. The Juke was never meant to be a mainstream vehicle and its sales have been higher than anticipated by the company. Don’t be surprised if the next Juke is more mainstream, or perhaps Nissan will develop a new product line to compete in this growing market.
The Honda HR-V had one of its strongest months since its release and nearly made it into the top three.
The subcompact crossover market is getting tougher to separate from the compact crossover market. The Crosstrek, like the Mitsubishi Outlander Sport, is actually based on a compact platform but compares favorably to the subcompact-based crossovers in interior room and price. The upcoming Toyota CH-R shares a platform with the all-new Prius, which is a compact car, but the CH-R will also compete in this segment based on interior room, size and price.
Subcompact Crossover Sales – March 2016
| Mar 2016 # | Feb 2016 # | Mar ’16/Feb ’16 % | Mar 2016/2015 | YTD 2016 # | YTD 2016/2015 % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeep Renegade | 8,832 | 6,757 | 30.7% | 837.0% | 21,951 | 2228.0% |
| Subaru XV Crosstrek | 6,973 | 6,129 | 13.8% | -2.6% | 19,550 | -2.6% |
| Buick Encore | 6,426 | 5,873 | 9.4% | 13.7% | 17,219 | 22.7% |
| Honda HR-V | 6,398 | 4,940 | 29.5% | NEW | 15,515 | NEW |
| Chevrolet Trax | 5,167 | 4,814 | 7.3% | 28.3% | 13,727 | 41.7% |
| Mitsubishi Outlander Sport | 2,874 | 2,591 | 10.9% | -10.9% | 7,698 | -2.4% |
| Nissan Juke | 2,498 | 1,863 | 34.1% | -12.0% | 5,871 | -16.4% |
| Mazda CX-3 | 1,748 | 1,793 | -2.5% | NEW | 4,916 | NEW |
| Fiat 500X | 1,399 | 1,547 | -9.6% | NEW | 3,964 | NEW |
| MINI Countryman | 1,281 | 581 | 120.5% | -16.9% | 2,366 | -26.6% |
Check out this TFLcar video from the Easter Jeep Safari of the Jeep Renegade Commander concept, an interesting car that can be duplicated by anyone with a Renegade and money to blow on Mopar Performance Parts:
