The Spanish automotive market has undergone fundamental restructure in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic. SUV segments have not simply grown—they have displaced traditional hatchback and saloon configurations across price points, reversing the market composition entirely.
This analysis examines 2025 registration data to identify which segments drove this transformation, whether battery electric vehicles (BEVs) represent a material part of the market, and what the pricing dynamics reveal about competitive positioning.
SUVs challenge historical market segmentation
Spain, as one of the EU Big Five markets, provides a representative case study for broader European trends. Analysis of registration volumes from 2019 to 2025 reveals a complete inversion of market structure. The SUV-to-non-SUV split has reversed from 42%–58% in 2019 to 63%–37% in 2025.
This shift was not gradual. Volume data shows a sharp cascade effect between 2019 and 2020, with non-SUV segments entering a contraction from which they have not recovered. Whilst SUV registrations rebounded post-pandemic, traditional hatchback and saloon segments remain suppressed, failing to return to pre-2019 levels despite five years of market stabilisation.
The slowdown in Spain's overall automotive market is reflected primarily to structural decline in non-SUV segments and is related to generalised demand weakness. The market has restructured around SUV body styles.
B-SUV and C1-SUV segments lead growth
Within the SUV category, growth has been concentrated in two segments. B-SUV share expanded from 16.2% to 23.6% between 2019 and 2025, whilst C1-SUV grew from 15.4% to 23.0% over the same period. Together, these segments account for 46.6% of total market volume in 2025, up from 31.6% in 2019.
The corresponding decline in traditional segments is most pronounced in C1 hatchback/saloon, which contracted from 17.6% to 9.7% market share. This represents a direct substitution effect: buyers who previously purchased C1 conventional vehicles have migrated to SUV's at similar price points.
C1-SUV model performance and BEV penetration
Within C1-SUV, the 2025 volume leaders were Hyundai Tucson (21,579 units), Toyota C-HR (18,552 units), and Kia Sportage (18,329 units). However, examining the full 2021–2025 period reveals which models sustained the post-pandemic recovery. Hyundai Tucson maintained 10.4% segment share, followed by Volkswagen T-Roc (8.3%) and Kia Sportage (6.3%).
Battery electric vehicle penetration in C1-SUV remains limited but is accelerating. BEV share grew from 0.8% in 2022 to 4.1% by December 2025. Whilst still modest, this trajectory reflects the combined effect of declining battery production costs and government incentive programmes that reduced effective transaction prices for consumers.
Divergent BEV dynamics in B-SUV
The B-SUV segment presents a different competitive landscape. In 2025, MG ZS led with 23,729 units, followed closely by SEAT Arona (20,292 units) and Peugeot 2008 (20,271 units). Over the full 2021–2025 period, SEAT Arona captured 9.5% share, with Peugeot 2008 (8.9%) and Renault Captur (7.2%) following.
BEV penetration in B-SUV has progressed more rapidly than in C1-SUV, rising from 1.7% in 2022 to over 7.0% in 2025. However, Chinese manufacturers followed an opposite trajectory in this segment up to 2024, with their share declining from 15.8% to just under 7.0% over almost four years. This contrasted with the gains seen in C1‑SUV. During 2025, the trend began to shift as their share moved back toward earlier levels.
The leading B-SUV BEV models from 2021–2025 were Kia EV3 (23.9%), BYD Atto 2 (11.4%), and Hyundai Kona (11.2%). Established Korean and European manufacturers retain stronger positioning in this smaller SUV category.
Price sensitivity analysis
Given the variation in Chinese manufacturer performance across segments, the question arises whether pricing is the primary competitive variable. Analysis of 2024–2025 transaction data from the JATO Incentives Navigator reveals no consistent price-share correlation.
In B-SUV BEV, Volvo EX30 experienced share collapse from 35.5% to 7.1% despite reducing their average potential transaction price. Conversely, Kia EV3 tripled its share whilst maintaining mid-range pricing, and MINI Aceman nearly doubled share despite price increases. Similar dynamics are evident in C1-SUV, where average potential transaction price reductions have not reliably translated to volume gains.
This suggests that European buyers are responding to a more complex value proposition—brand positioning, dealer network strength, charging infrastructure compatibility, and total cost of ownership calculations appear to override pure average potential transaction price considerations.
Conclusion: The combustion engine holds its ground
There is no single brand or model driving the recovery of SUV segments in Spain; nor is there, at present, a material replacement of traditional internal combustion engines by electric ones. The latter remain highly dependent on the continuation of incentives (most of which are still government-backed) and the development of a widespread charging infrastructure. Only when this situation changes might we witness a true transformation of the Spanish market.
While attention often centres on the competition between traditional combustion and electric vehicles, hybrid powertrains have become the beneficiary of this rivalry, continuing to gain ground in Spain and across Europe.