The large car segment beats the overall US car market with deliveries down 3% in the first three quarters of 2022, compared to a loss of 13% for the market as a whole. As a result, large sedans now make up 1.7% of the US car market with just under 178,000 deliveries, up from 1.6% in the first three quarters of 2021. In Q3, the large sedan segment was up an impressive 24% in a stable overall market.
Luxury models gain share of the class again as they’re up 10% and now hold 48.4% of the large cars segment, up almost 6 percentage points on 2021.
The Dodge Charger is up 2% and gains almost 2 percentage points of share of the class to 35.3%. It was up 25% in the third quarter when it sold over 3x of any other nameplate in the class. Thanks to the addition of the Plaid version, the Tesla Model S jumps to 2nd place overall with sales up over four-fold, ahead of the BMW 5-Series (-22%) which distances the Mercedes-Benz E-Class (also -22%). The Toyota Avalon and Chrysler 300 both outsold the E-Class in Q3 but remain behind year-to-date. The 300 was up 17% in the third quarter, despite its advanced age.
The Cadillac CT5 is one of the best performing existing models in the class with a 38% year-to-date at #7, while the Nissan Maxima is the worst performing remaining nameplates at #9 with sales down by 60%. The Porsche Taycan is down 20% at #8 while its clone Audi e-tron GT is up more than fourfold at #12, splitting the Audi A6 (-50%) and A7 (-38%). All three Audis showed double digit growth in Q3. The Genesis G80 is losing share at -38% in the third quarter and -31% year-to-date, while the Volvo 90-Series is rebounding at +34% in Q3 and +24% YTD.
US large car sales 2022 Q1-Q3
| Large car segment | 2022 Q1-Q3 | 2021 Q1-Q3 | Change | 2022 Share | 2022-Q3 | Change | |
| 1 | Dodge Charger | 62.660 | 61.498 | 2% | 35,3% | 24.201 | 25% |
| 2 | Tesla Model S (est.) | 28.300 | 6.855 | 313% | 15,9% | 8.000 | 371% |
| 3 | BMW 5-series | 14.388 | 18.538 | -22% | 8,1% | 4.577 | -5% |
| 4 | Mercedes-Benz E-class | 13.672 | 17.634 | -22% | 7,7% | 3.864 | 66% |
| 5 | Toyota Avalon | 12.144 | 15.967 | -24% | 6,8% | 4.024 | -29% |
| 6 | Chrysler 300 | 11.757 | 14.631 | -20% | 6,6% | 4.175 | 17% |
| 7 | Cadillac CT5 | 10.505 | 7.636 | 38% | 5,9% | 2.991 | 269% |
| 8 | Porsche Taycan | 5.774 | 7.228 | -20% | 3,3% | 1.325 | -29% |
| 9 | Nissan Maxima | 5.035 | 12.593 | -60% | 2,8% | 1.282 | -51% |
| 10 | Audi A6 / S6 | 4.282 | 8.595 | -50% | 2,4% | 1.560 | 30% |
| 11 | Genesis G80 | 3.176 | 4.597 | -31% | 1,8% | 1.001 | -38% |
| 12 | Audi e-tron GT | 1.961 | 462 | 324% | 1,1% | 550 | 19% |
| 13 | Audi A7 / S7 | 1.716 | 2.770 | -38% | 1,0% | 577 | 26% |
| 14 | Volvo 90 series | 1.465 | 1.183 | 24% | 0,8% | 320 | 34% |
| 15 | Jaguar XF | 780 | 794 | -2% | 0,4% | 62 | -69% |
| 16 | Buick LaCrosse | 28 | 19 | 47% | 0,0% | 0 | – |
| 17 | Acura RLX | 3 | 209 | -99% | 0,0% | 0 | -100% |
| 18 | Lexus GS | 2 | 75 | -97% | 0,0% | 0 | -100% |
| 19 | Cadillac XTS | 1 | 171 | -99% | 0,0% | 0 | -100% |
| 20 | Infiniti Q70 | 1 | 0 | – | 0,0% | 0 | – |
| 21 | Lincoln Continental | 0 | 1.395 | -100% | 0,0% | 0 | -100% |
| 22 | Chevrolet Impala | 0 | 741 | -100% | 0,0% | 0 | -100% |
| 23 | Kia Cadenza | 0 | 249 | -100% | 0,0% | 0 | -100% |
| 24 | Cadillac CTS | 0 | 162 | -100% | 0,0% | 0 | – |
| 25 | BMW 6-series | 0 | 53 | -100% | 0,0% | 0 | -100% |
| Segment total | 177.650 | 184.055 | -3% | 58.509 | 24% |
Source: Manufacturers.