M-segment

New Volkswagen Golf Sportsvan outbroke the segment in early 2015, overtaking Citroën C4 (Grand) Picasso in 2015 as best seller in the segment

M-segment is defined by European Commission^[1] as the segment of the Multi Purpose Cars. It approximately corresponds to the American classification of several car categories such MPV, Minivan, Cargo Van and Passenger Van. However, in Europe only vehicles for passenger transport purposes are considered in this segment.

In Europe, most popular sub-segment is the compact one.

European market in 2015^[2]

M-segment segment in the recent past was increasing volumes year by year in Europe; in 2015, it is consolidated as the fourth most popular segment (11,8% of the market after C-segment, J-segment and B-segment). It is very fragmented in a multitude of different vehicles, consequently the offer is very wide.

Thanks to the successful launch of the Volkswagen Golf Sportsvan (59k units sold in 2014), as from 2015 best seller in segment, VW Group together mainly with VW Touran and its passenger variant of VW Transporter and VW Caddy Life improved its segment leadership reaching a share of 25.2%.

Second player in the segment is Renault together with its controlled unit Nissan, with 15.9% share; main contribution is as usual coming from Renault (Grand) Scenic and the successful launch in Europe of the Nissan Note. Dacia Dokker is another successful model of the group range, plus some popular passenger variants of Renault-Nissan Group van vehicles: among them most successful are Renault Kangoo and Dacia Lodgy.

PSA Group follows closely with 15.7% share, mainly thanks to Citroën C4 (Grand) Picasso which was the 2014 overall segment best seller. Big sellers are also Citroën C3 Picasso and Peugeot 5008, and vans passenger variants as Citroën Berlingo Multispace and Peugeot Partner Tepee/Ranch.

Ford Max family Ford (Grand) C-Max, Ford B-Max and Ford S-Max allows the group to reach 9.9% of the segment, although all other Ford models are less successful.

Although the bug success of Fiat 500L, best B-MPV seller and fourth absolute car in the segment, FCA Group has still scarce penetration (8.9%), having only in the range only passenger variants of commercial vehicles; the other passenger car in the range, the Lancia re-badged Chrysler Voyager, one the best seller MPV in the 90s, had, from its launch, very poor sales, confirmed at today.

Other than the above mentioned Volkswagen Golf Sportsvan, recent debuts in the segment were Mercedes-Benz V-Class and the second generation of Kia Soul.

p.v.: passenger variant

Second generation of Kia Soul

Fiat Doblò passenger variant

Seat Alhambra

Mercedes-Benz V-Class

Others models includes (B=Small, C=Compact, D=Large, E=Extra-Large; p.v. = passenger variant)

See also

References

1. ↑ "REGULATION (EEC) No 4064/89 - MERGER PROCEDURE". Office for Official Publications of the European Communities L-2985 Luxembourg. 
2. ↑ "European car sales analysis February 2015 – models". http://left-lane.com/.