April 2016 Subcompact Car Sales: A Rebound?

Last month I was quick to declare a subcompact sales slump. It's pretty incredible how things can simply bounce back. Twelve of the 27 models for sale more than a year have posted positive sales gains this month vs. the same month in 2015. The biggest monthly gainer was, again. the Mazda MX-5 Miata, up 182.8%. The Jeep Renegade also was up over 130%, and BMW's electric i3 was also up 100%. Impressively, Hyundai moved a lot of Accents in April—nearly 13,000 to be exact—for a year-to-date total of over 30,000 units.

The big loser this month was again the MINI Paceman. All I can assume is the model is already on the chopping block, so perhaps its 89% loss isn't truly representative, since it's a dead man walking. The Fiat 500L is most certainly still for sale, although with a 63% decline in sales, you'd hardly know it. The Toyota Prius c was down 54.2%, and the Nissan Versa was down, somewhat surprisingly, 50%. That being said, it still has the most units sold thus far of any subcompact-like vehicle yet with 45,664 units sold.

And in my favorite small car battle of the year, the tiny Mitsubishi Mirage continues to outsell the lilliputian Chevrolet Spark by nearly 16%, Overall Mirage sales are up 12.7% for the year. Talk about surprising.

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Make/Model	% Apr. '16 vs. '15	Units Apr. '16	% YTD Apr. '16 vs. '15	Units YTD
Mazda MX-5 Miata	182.8	1086	98.0	3495
Jeep Renegade	131.0	9730	514.0	31681
BMW i3	100.0	814	-48.9	1576
MINI Cooper /S Convertible	79.7	541	-44.9	549
Hyundai Veloster	69.2	2792	34.4	9258
Hyundai Accent	57.6	12933	23.0	30759
Mitsubishi Mirage	37.2	3302	12.7	9534
Chevrolet Trax	30.7	4510	38.8	18237
Buick Encore	17.9	6589	21.3	23808
Honda CR-Z	12.8	253	-12.6	736
Kia Soul	0.9	11517	5.5	44593
MINI Countryman	0.4	1249	-19.1	3615
Smart Fortwo	-2.9	466	-12.3	1766
Kia Rio	-10.0	2523	-10.4	7889
Chevrolet Spark	-17.7	3082	-35.9	8237
Nissan Juke	-22.3	1890	-17.9	7761
Honda Fit	-24.3	5132	-32.4	16645
Ford Fiesta	-25.4	4462	-15.3	15325
MINI Cooper /S Hardtop 4 Dr	-35.1	976	-7.7	4428
Toyota Yaris	-36.6	1365	-45.9	4048
Fiat 500	-40.0	1488	-50.0	5266
Chevrolet Sonic	-41.4	5102	-11.4	17729
MINI Cooper /S Hardtop 2 Dr	-46.9	1136	-37.5	4422
Nissan Versa	-50.0	9165	-2.1	45664
Toyota Prius c	-54.2	1676	-33.7	8309
Fiat 500L	-63.0	463	-60.0	1730
MINI Paceman	-89.0	9	-88.5	39
Honda HR-V		6989		22484
Scion iA		3023		10432
Mazda CX-3		1504		6420
Fiat 500X		1094		5058
MINI Cooper /S Clubman		884		2579

Sales numbers are for U.S. market only.