Small SUVs to put pressure on European counterparts
Despite the overall plunge that the European car market has taken over the past couple of years it’s not a decrease all across the board, for instance, the subcompact SUV segment is actually thriving with brands such as Opel, Peugeot and Renault managing to keep afloat thanks to it. However, it might seem that Asian rivals are looking to get a slice of that European pie.
It appears that names such as Hyundai, Kia and Toyota are preparing a range of new entries meant to compete with the strong-selling European models like the Peugeot 2008, Renault Captur and the Opel/Vauxhall Mokka.
There are certain forecasts that say that the annual sales of subcompact SUVs will increase to a bit over 580,000 units in Europe by 2016 from 307,300 sales this year.
Hyundai’s rival entry could peak at more than 40,000 units, while the planned replacement of Toyota’s slow-selling Urban Cruiser could reach peak sales of more than 37,000 in 2017.
Hyundai has enjoyed some success in the compact SUV segment with the ix35, which also happens to be their number two seller in Europe after the i30 hatchback.
Even though they are committed to this flourishing segment, Hyundai Europe Chief Operating Officer Allan Rushforth said that the SUV segment is unlikely to return the same high profit margins that have been achievement with SUVs.
The strong demand for the Mokka, Captur and 2008 has helped the total sales of all SUVs in Europe to rise six percent to 1.06 million in the first half at a time when overall European car sales fell by six percent to 6.65 million.
When it comes to Europe’s largest carmaker, Volkswagen, it is also expected to make quite the big impact on this slice of the market when it launches the Taigun in 2015.
