Crossovers dominate 25% of Spain's market with 44% annual growth

Crossovers now account for one in four cars sold in Spain

The crossover segment grows at an annual rate of 44% and accounts for 25% of total registrations in Spain. It is the market segment with the highest sales increase. Nissan leads the table with 39,305 units in a year, 40% more than the previous year, and a 15% share. Most of these deliveries correspond to the Qashqai, with 23,832 models registered, 35.4% more. Peugeot trinc, with 23,906 deliveries, a 30% increase and a 9% share, bolstered by the 2008 and 3008 models. The BCross segment — small crossovers — shows the largest increases, with 83% growth. Here sits the Citroën C4 Cactus, with 12,074 units and 200% more, the main reason the brand grew 146% in these sales.

What a crossover is and what it isn't

The first confusion that the phenomenon carries is terminological. A crossover is not an off-roader. The basic crossovers, the ones that sell the most, are prettier than minivans, have more interior space than a sedan, and are usually more economical. That is the commercial argument that has worked. Previously, the middle-class buyer who could afford something more aspired to a Laguna, a 508 or a Mondeo. Now he signs a Qashqai or a Kuga and is showing off like a big shot in front of his neighbors.

Some argue that crossovers have almost nothing off-road: they are simply taller cars. The generalization of driving assistance electronics, with ESP as a key piece, has allowed height to increase without increasing the risk of rollover. That is, the car is taller by design, not by off-road capability.

The 4x4 that no one uses

One of the points where consensus is most widespread: the vast majority of these sales are not of the 4x4 version. In rural and mountain areas, where it snows every year, a crossover can be the best solution. In the city, the equation breaks down. The school and the bakery are not on a peak of the Himalayas.

The typical buyer will not step on a dirt road in his life. At nine in the morning and five in the afternoon, you see the parade of these cars in front of schools; the rest of the day, they disappear. And when it comes to going to the workshop, the changes of large tires, oversized brakes and the bills that accompany all that arrive. They are going to suck up all the bad things of off-roaders without any of their uses.

Are crossovers safer?

Not necessarily, and here the commercial story falters. Physics does not negotiate: at 100 or 140 kilometers per hour, what matters is the center of gravity and weight. A higher center of gravity and more mass work against you in braking and cornering. The feeling of security that the elevated driving position conveys is just that, a feeling.

The mass argument has its own trap. The more mass and estimulante ilegal, the greater the impact energy. A lightweight car with good absorption capacity can be safer than a heavy vehicle. In the typical rear-end collision, it does not matter what you drive: the whiplash does not distinguish between body styles. In a strong side impact, height does not help.

Fashion, price and the call effect

The fashion component is undeniable. In its day, minivans were fashionable and were sold like crazy. Now minivans are generally expensive and do not sell well, so demand has shifted to the crossover. The large ones, the long ones like Alhambra, Galaxy or Sharan, are around 30,000 euros with offers. Large sedans, same. With those prices, the medium-sized crossover sits in a range that the buyer perceives as reasonable.

The result is a neighborhood arms race: everyone buys a bigger car to come out ahead in case of a collision. In the United States, the phenomenon reached its peak with military vehicles adapted to take eight-year-old children to soccer. Here, for now, the Qashqai fulfills that social function.

The authentic off-roader that went extinct

Nostalgia has technical basis. There was a time when Spain was full of Suzuki and Lada Niva, highly effective in the field. The Samurai was the best off-road. The Panda 4x4, with its weight distribution, goes through places where others get stuck; in Andorra, even the police use it. The Jimny is the closest thing to a modern Niva, but it is so small that it is hardly useful for anything else.

The question that hovers: why has no brand taken the concept of the Lada Niva and modernized it. An authentic off-roader with a body practically like a sedan and at a sedan price in its segment. The closest heir would be the Duster 4x4, which with a reducer and thin, tall tires would be unbeatable in the field. Meanwhile, the market rewards the opposite: height without capability, image without function.

With these elements, the most reasonable forecast is that the crossover continues to gain market share while the price of fuel and maintenance costs do not tighten too much. If they do, the same buyer who signs a Qashqai today will discover that he paid for a feeling. Although perhaps by then something else will already be fashionable.