More Affordable Small SUVs Took the Market By Storm, According to the Latest Sales Reports

It's not as easy as it used to be, but folks snapped up sub-$30K SUVs like crazy

Small SUVs surged in Q3 sales, thanks in large part to favorites like the new Honda HR-V, Chevy Trax and Subaru Crosstrek.

You might balk at the thought of a $25,000-or-so Chevy crossover being any good. Here’s the rub, though: For that sort of money, it’s a solid option for most buyers, not to mention it’s a massive improvement on the old one (which was mediocre at best). The third-quarter sales reports are now out for public consumption, and they revealed an interesting trend not just for the Trax, but for small and more affordable SUVs. Even while analysts figure we aren’t on the cusp of another recession, everyday folks are still feeling the financial pressure from the past few years. To that end, if they’re in the new car market at all, they’re shopping for deals.

The small car passenger segment is another case in point: Would you have guessed that the humdrum-as-they-come Mitsubishi Mirage would more than double in Q3 compared to the same period last year? It’s a similar story with many of the small SUVs you can buy right now. They surely won, while some larger and more expensive vehicles and brands that ditched small, cheap and cheerful for pricier models (with fatter profit margins) have been losing ground over the past several months.

Even in instances where automakers have been having a ‘meh’ sort of year — looking at you, Toyota (sales volumes dropped 21% this past quarter, while year-to-date sales are only up 5.5% — smaller cars with more reasonable MSRPs absolutely saved their bacon. Or, if you’re Stellantis and “affordable” isn’t really your jam, you’ve still had a rocky year even if the cheaper offerings fared better than most. (The Jeep Compass, shown in the list below, picked up by 71% last quarter…but most other models were down, while the automaker as a whole dropped 20%).

Best-selling small SUVs for around $25K

If you take a cross-section of U.S. car sales in any quarter, one model will stand head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to sheer volume: the Toyota RAV4. Nevertheless, even the base LE is still over $30,000 to start, and the story isn’t much different for its rivals across the board.

So, what we’re looking at here are small SUVs with starting prices closer to the $25K mark. The aforementioned Chevy Trax, in particular, kicks off at a downright reasonable $21,495. In a world where the new floor for a new vehicle is pretty much $25K-30K, it’s no wonder the model enjoyed immense sales success so far this year.

Small SUVStarting MSRP
(including destination)
2024 year-to-date salesChange from YTD 2023
Chevy Trax$21,495149,762+129.5%
Subaru Crosstrek$26,540131,847+15%
Honda HR-V$26,750114,805+31.9%
Jeep Compass$27,49584,474+18%
Chevy Trailblazer$24,39581,708-11.6%
Mazda CX-30$26,41573,580+24.1%
Toyota Corolla Cross$25,21067,674+37.7%
Hyundai Kona$25,74564,508+14%
Nissan Kicks$23,22052,144+4%
Kia Seltos$25,96548,177+2.4%
Buick Encore GX$26,89544,646-11.4%
Buick Envista$23,49538,890+622.2%
Hyundai Venue$21,29519,843-13%
Volkswagen Taos$25,42015,397-6%
Mitsubishi Outlander Sport$25,19011,706-3.4%

The Subaru Crosstrek is another great example of a shifting trend. Not only does its 15% gain year-over-year (we’re looking January-September here), but it actually overtook the more expensive Forester and Outback to become the most popular Subaru in the lineup. The Chevy Trax, similarly, overtook the larger and pricier Equinox in the last quarter to become the brand’s best-selling car throughout 2024.

While the Toyota RAV4 still dominates the sales charts, an increasing number of folks — and yes, rental fleets — gravitated toward the smaller Corolla Cross, leading to a larger percentage gain in sales than Toyota’s most popular (by volume) SUV.

We’ll have to see how the numbers shake out as dealers round out another year, but the clear trend right now is toward these small SUVs being definitive winners.