The small SUV segment was in a position to pass small cars to become Europe’s most popular vehicle class in late 2021 as the gap between the two shrunk to 100,000 units.

Impressive volume increases for models such as the segment-leading Peugeot 2008 pushed sales up 13 percent to 1.59 million through October 2021, leaving small SUVs just behind small cars at 1.60 million after 10 months, according to data from JATO Dynamics.

The small SUV growth has been driven by automakers prioritising precious semiconductors for models that returned bigger margins, says Europe Automotive News.

But in October one of the region’s longtime sales leaders, the compact-sized Volkswagen Golf, fell out of the top 10 for the month, with the 2008 the best seller.

Small SUVs are largely built on the same platforms as small cars and can use much of the same technology, but customers will pay more for them, says Europe Automotive News.