The growing demand for crossovers is a global trend. In the first half of this year, they accounted for 50% of registrations in Europe, 53% in the US and 47% in China.
The popularity of crossovers is clear: high seating position, a large choice of models, practicality (station wagon).
Crossovers of classes B and C (subcompact and compact) quickly conquered the markets of Europe and China. These are cheap and economical city cars. The keywords are “economical” and “cheap”. Basically (and some models in the highest trim levels) they are not equipped with four-wheel drive – they are useless for frugal buyers. People rather prefer the familiar and predictable front-wheel drive.
The ratio of front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive crossovers in Europe in different years.
As a result, according to JATO Dynamics, only 23% of crossovers sold in China from January to June 2022 have four-wheel drive. In Europe, only 36% of such cars were bought.
That is, front-wheel drive crossovers owe their popularity primarily to the price. Second, practical. Most drivers rarely leave asphalt or unpaved roads. So why pay more for a system you probably won’t use?