The sudden rise of the subcompact crossover

In a U.S. market with a seemingly insatiable appetite for spacious crossovers and SUVs, there's plenty of room for their bite-size counterparts.

The Hyundai Venue will be the latest to join the growing roster of subcompact crossovers when it arrives in dealerships this fall. While Hyundai is pitching the funky little ride as a value play that stands out from the crowd and could even convert used-car shoppers into new-vehicle buyers, it will face tough competition in a segment that didn't exist a few years ago.

Offering more practicality than a small sedan and an economical alternative to larger trucks, the segment has captured a small but growing share of the U.S. market in its brief history. The Automotive News Data Center began classifying vehicles as subcompact crossovers in 2015, though some vehicles currently in the segment date to 2010. The Mitsubishi Outlander Sport and Nissan Juke had combined U.S. volume of 10,329 in 2010, which quintupled to 52,329 the next year.

In 2013, the Subaru Crosstrek and Buick Encore made a splash. The Crosstrek retailed more than 53,000 vehicles in what was its second year, and it has mostly dominated the segment since. The Encore, a rookie that year, sold nearly 32,000. It is No. 2 in the segment today.

In 2015, there were 10 subcompact crossover nameplates in the U.S., good for 411,774 sales, or 2.4 percent of the market. The following year, the Jeep Renegade was the first in the segment to cross the 100,000-sales threshold.

Last year, the subcompact crossover segment — comprising 16 nameplates and 784,073 sales — captured 12 percent of the U.S. crossover market and 4.5 percent of overall U.S. light-vehicle deliveries, according to the Automotive News Data Center.

In comparison, the share of subcompact cars fell to 2.4 percent of the U.S. market in 2018 from 5.4 percent in 2010, while compact cars declined to 9.9 percent from 12.4 percent in the same period.

Although the smallest crossovers were last to market, it was inevitable that consumer demand would lead to sizable growth, said Stephanie Brinley, IHS Markit's principal automotive analyst.

Entry-level buyers and people who are downsizing, in particular, find the subcompacts appealing, and automakers were smart to see the opportunity. "The ability to sit a little higher than a comparably sized passenger car and have an easier way to configure the cargo area appeals to drivers," she said. "And automakers have continued to push the boundaries for where [utility vehicles] can go."