The year was 2012. The tectonic shift in consumer preferences from cars to crossovers and other utility vehicles had already been in motion for several years, and yet the Chevrolet Trax – an affordable, mass-market subcompact crossover that was about to go on sale in 140 different international markets – was kept out of the United States. The official reasoning, according to then-GM President of North America Mark Reuss, was that the Chevrolet Trax “would have never worked” in the U.S. because of financial and packaging hangups, and because it would have cannibalized sales of the compact Chevy Equinox.
Six years later, the Chevrolet Trax is on fire in the United States. Sales surged an impressive 42.7% in the second quarter of 2018, compared to the same three-month period in 2017. The subcompact crossover didn’t fare so well in the third quarter, sliding 11.2%, but even still, the Trax is up 12.4% for the year-so-far through September. Total U.S. sales since the tiny utility vehicle was launched in 2014 have nearly eclipsed the 300k-unit mark.
Of course, we long suspected that General Motors was wrong to think the Chevrolet Trax couldn’t make it in the U.S. market, writing in November, 2012 that the reasoning spelled out by Mark Reuss “didn’t make sense to us on so many levels.” That is, with the exception of the fear that the Trax might take away some number of sales from the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain – two slightly larger, higher-margin vehicles.
But those fears appear to be mostly unfounded. Since the Trax’s launch, U.S. Equinox sales have mostly only gone up, growing from 242,242 units in 2014 to 290,458 units last year. In 2018, they’re up yet again for the year-so-far, surging 10.2% to 234,379 units through September.
Those figures are, of course, significantly more impressive than the Chevrolet Trax’s U.S. sales numbers; the compact crossover segment is quite a bit bigger than the subcompact one. Even still, the Chevrolet Trax was the second-best-selling vehicle in its segment for the year by the end of the second quarter.
Sales Numbers - Mainstream Subcompact Crossovers - Q2 2018 - United States
MODEL | Q2 18 / Q2 17 | Q2 18 | Q2 17 | YTD 18 / YTD 17 | YTD 18 | YTD 17 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
COMPASS | +155.85% | 43,990 | 17,194 | +239.90% | 87,510 | 25,746 |
TRAX | +42.74% | 26,507 | 18,570 | +27.23% | 46,989 | 36,931 |
RENEGADE | -6.87% | 25,780 | 27,682 | -4.88% | 50,439 | 53,027 |
HR-V | -8.09% | 24,752 | 26,932 | -2.30% | 45,555 | 46,628 |
ENCORE | +4.11% | 23,167 | 22,252 | +14.89% | 48,635 | 42,331 |
ECOSPORT | * | 17,514 | * | * | 23,610 | 0 |
KONA | * | 12,634 | * | * | 15,193 | 0 |
C-HR | +129.54% | 12,620 | 5,498 | +377.25% | 26,239 | 5,498 |
OUTLANDER SPORT | +9.55% | 8,985 | 8,202 | +48.78% | 22,415 | 15,066 |
NIRO | +1.04% | 7,868 | 7,787 | +12.05% | 14,203 | 12,676 |
CX-3 | +35.75% | 5,290 | 3,897 | +26.49% | 9,627 | 7,611 |
ECLIPSE CROSS | * | 2,313 | * | * | 2,966 | 0 |
500X | -18.27% | 1,646 | 2,014 | -18.97% | 3,225 | 3,980 |
KICKS | * | 563 | * | * | 563 | * |
JUKE | -93.79% | 196 | 3,157 | -91.00% | 652 | 7,245 |
TOTAL | +49.33% | 213,825 | 143,185 | +54.95% | 397,821 | 256,739 |
Comments
Hey, post-bankruptcy excuses from GM…I knew that all along! Same thing kept Orlando from being sold-and built as originally intended (Detroit-Hamtramck), which did not happen. Canada and Mexico got Orlando, which was sourced from South Korea. I think that too, as well as the larger of the two Captiva’s, which could seat up to 7 passenegers, could have been good rivals. I imagine Kia Sorento and other rivals got those sales instead. Equinox was and is hardly a compact, plus compared to true compact rivals-Escape, Forester, CR-V, RAV4, the rest-all have more seats-down cargo space than Equinox, an area that never has been an Equinox strength. The damn car is still too large on the outside for the space it provides inside. The Orlando was also like a mini-Traverse in styling and capability, I still firmly believe that was a big mistake in being kept out of our market at the last minute.
Totally out of context. In its then form- did not make sense. Restyled, engineered for US version works. If you think we expose future product plans you are mistaken.
Trax also worked in Europe for a short while. But foolish GM once again decided to kill Chevy in Europe along with Cadillac. All GM NA dealers and customers don’t want to hear about GM anymore. And GM continues its’ path of ridiculousness. They started to offer LHD vehicles in RHD country (GB) while there are many LHD countries in Europe that don’t have a single Cadillac/Corvette dealer (!). There’s no service (the information on cadillaceurope.com website is fake) – those few Opel service stations mentioned on the website can only change oil etc. I even once asked Uwe Elinghaus about that on Jalopnik’s chat. He replied ‘we’ll take care of that’. It was 4 years before he was fired and of course he and his employer haven’t done anything!
And Marry Barra keeps on caling GM a global company…
How is it to work for such a retarded corporation Mr. Reuss?
Chevrolet needs to be sold in Europe along with Cadillac. Europeans would never purchase a current Chevrolet for the price GM would need to sell them for profit as the interiors are just good enough at this time. We all know GM can and should do better. I really hate myself for such a statement but the Ford Focus which is how old has a better interior than the Cruze. I am not discussing the Infotainment either, just materials. That is unacceptable. The New Nox has hard plastics everywhere. So does the Volt, Bolt, Malibu, Silverado, Colorado, Camaro, Trax, and Traverse. Last Gen models had better materials. The Tahoe is soft touch. So was the Malibu. So is the Impala. GM needs to step up the interior game ASAP or they will continue to lose ground in the all important CUV market.
Soft touch upper dash materials utilized in Chevrolet cars like every other maker uses would be great too.
When Chevrolet introduced the Trax, it was thought that it would cannibalize sales from Buick’s Encore because General Motors did not expect or understand the appetite of CUVs; Chevrolet through September of 2018 has already sold 67,538 of the Trax which is just behind the sales of the Buick Encore which sits at 69,747 through the same period as one has to wonder why GMC has yet to introduce their version of the same entry level CUV.
my wife drives the 2017 encore and she love’s it as do I. our first trip was in the Tennessee mountains and it performed great and it turns on a dime and surprisingly quit and comfortable ( I’m 6.1) compared to most cuv’s. One of the big selling points to me was the fact they use a six speed tranny vs everyone else using a cvt. I personally cant stand them the way they make a motor scream all the time. and the sells numbers between the trax and encore don’t lie (my family has bought five of them) the only competitor even close to their numbers is the jeep so GM is doing something right.
Its seems the success of the Trax is at the expense of the Sonic.
If you include the Encore as a ‘trim level’ of the Trax — GM makes the #1 selling CUV in America.
We were also told Cruze Hatch wouldn’t sell in U.S., either.
Of course GM waited to introduce the Cruze Hatch, until after the hatch market started losing sales to the CUV storm.
GM better hurry up on the 2020 Trax/Encore (and Granite?). The Trax styling is getting old when you compare to the Hyundai Kona or Nissan Kick.
We own a 2016 Trax as a second vehicle (Costco Machine) 🙂 I picked up ours in Canada for $17 000.00 Canadian, new, six speed manual with AC (package no longer available). to replace our Astra XR that had been flawless for seven years.
It has been a great little car, only one claim in 3 years. Plastic roof trims replaced (adhesive let go and they flew away) get’s combined 7l/100km, turns on a dime and handles great with the upgraded progressive springs and studded tires in the winter.
Love that the front seat folds down allowing me to carry 8 foot studs and plywood in a pinch.
25 000 miles, we’ve just used up our last free oil change, had brakes cleaned, they are still at 60 percent in front and 70 percent in the back.
Great value for money