Nissan’s Versa retains the top spot among subcompact sales despite a slight decline in April as city car sales drop across the board.
Nissan sold 9,646 Versas in April, a drop of nearly 8 percent over April 2014. However, it’s still ahead in yearly subcompact sales with 46,644 total sales, an increase of 3.46 percent over the same timeframe in 2014.
The subcompact segment, also known as the B-segment in Europe, consists of models that slot just above city cars but below compact cars like the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla and their competitors.
The biggest winner for April was the Mini Cooper, whose sales doubled over April 2014. Mini sold 3,948 Coopers for April and 12,872 for the year to date, the latter being a 140 percent increase. The addition of the four-door Cooper has contributed to the increase, as it’s already the second best selling version of the Cooper behind the two-door. Mini Cooper sales include the Hardtop 2-door, Hardtop 4-door, Convertible and Clubman models, but not the Coupe or Roadster models as they are two-seat sports cars.
Also making big gains was the Mitsubishi Mirage. Sales of the smallest Mitsubishi increased 85 percent over April 2014 with 2,470 sold for the month. Year to date sales of the Mirage are 8,463, a 65 percent increase.
Honda’s redesigned Fit continues to improve with a 56 percent increase for the month and a 68 percent increase for the year. Other strong sellers for the month are the Hyundai Accent, the Chevrolet Sonic and the Toyota Yaris. Of this group, all but the Sonic are selling at a better rate for the year than in 2014.
In the city car segment, sales are down for all models, with Chevrolet’s Spark retaining its lead over the Fiat 500. Chevrolet sold 3,743 Sparks in April, a 3 percent decrease over April 2014, and 12,847 for the year, a 4 percent drop. The 500 dropped nearly 18 percent for April with 2,498 cars sold and is down nearly 9 percent for the year.
The Smart ForTwo and Scion iQ continue to trail far behind the two leaders. Both the Spark and the 500 sold more in April than the other two have for the entire year combined. Both the ForTwo and the iQ are down significantly over 2014 for both monthly and yearly sales.
Check out the charts below for the full sales numbers:
Subcompact Sales
| Car | April 2015 | April 2014 | % change | YTD 2015 | YTD 2014 | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nissan Versa | 9,646 | 10,481 | -7.97% | 46,644 | 45,084 | 3.46% |
| Hyundai Accent | 8,208 | 6,419 | 27.87% | 25,007 | 22,427 | 11.50% |
| Honda Fit | 6,529 | 4,179 | 56.23% | 24,623 | 14,641 | 68.18% |
| Chevrolet Sonic | 8,700 | 7,655 | 13.65% | 20,015 | 31,888 | -37.23% |
| Ford Fiesta | 5,982 | 5,824 | 2.71% | 18,092 | 21,422 | -15.54% |
| Mini Cooper* | 3,948 | 1,970 | 100.41% | 12,872 | 5,358 | 140.24% |
| Kia Rio | 2,802 | 3,214 | -12.82% | 8,800 | 12,780 | -31.14% |
| Mitsubishi Mirage | 2,470 | 1,331 | 85.57% | 8,463 | 5,116 | 65.42% |
| Toyota Yaris | 2,153 | 1,450 | 48.48% | 7,477 | 5,594 | 33.66% |
| Scion xD | 111 | 731 | -84.82% | 567 | 2,785 | -79.64% |
| TOTAL | 64,744 | 60,681 | 6.70% | 225,562 | 225,447 | 0.05% |
| *NOTE: Mini Cooper sales include the 2-door, 4-door, Convertible and Clubman models only. | ||||||
City Car Sales
| Car | April 15 | April 14 | % change | YTD 2015 | YTD 2014 | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet Spark | 3,743 | 3,873 | -3.36% | 12,847 | 13,414 | -4.23% |
| Fiat 500 | 2,498 | 3,041 | -17.86% | 10,493 | 11,514 | -8.87% |
| Smart ForTwo | 480 | 1,048 | -54.20% | 2,013 | 3,285 | -38.72% |
| Scion iQ | 73 | 196 | -62.76% | 305 | 787 | -61.25% |
| TOTAL | 6,794 | 8,158 | -16.72% | 25,658 | 29,000 | -11.52% |
Watch this TFLcar video review of the 2015 Mini Cooper S Hardtop 4-door:
