Sales of midsized cars narrowly beat the overall US passenger car market in the first half of 2022. At just over 637,000 deliveries, midsized car sales are down 17% on last year while the overall market is down 18%. As a result, the midsized class slightly improves its share of the class by 0.2 percentage points to 9.4%. In Q2, the midsized car segment was down 19% in an overall market down 21%.
The Toyota Camry starts off where it spent the last 20 years: as America’s best selling midsized sedan. However, with deliveries down 23% it’s losing share of the class. The former #2 Honda Accord is down 30% and even lost 44% in the second quarter, when it sold fewer than half the number of units that the Camry did. As a result, the Tesla Model 3 jumps into 2nd place with an estimated 75% increase in sales. Even the Nissan Altima outsold the Accord in Q2, and it’s less than 2,000 deliveries behind for the year so far. Best performer in the class is the Chevrolet Malibu at +82% although that is more of a reflection of its poor score in the first half of last year than of its current strength. The Kia K5 is down 31% and its sibling Hyundai Sonata is even down by 64%. In contrast, the Subaru Legacy is down just 5% thanks to the new generation. The Kia Stinger is down 21% in 18th place after struggling in Q2 when it lost just about half of its volume. The Volkswagen Passat is down 79% after sales all but ended in Q2 with just 63 deliveries. The Mazda6 also had just 9 deliveries in Q2 as it’s reached the end of its life cycle and won’t be replaced anytime soon.
Luxury midsized models outperform their mainstream rivals at -4% as they now make up 32.5% of the midsize segment, up from 28.1% in the first half of 2021. The Tesla Model 3 is obviously the luxury leader, followed by the Lexus ES in overall 7th place with sales down just 4%. The BMW 3-Series and 4-Series are almost equal, as the former is down 40% so far this year, while the latter is up 12%. The Lexus IS is in overall 12th place, with the Mercedes-Benz C-Class closing in. The C-Class is down 49% in the first half of the year due to a very slow first quarter when it was in overall 25th place, but deliveries of its all-new generation picked up steam in Q2 when it was down just 14% and outsold the two BMW’s and the IS to be the #3 luxury nameplate. At Audi, the A5 outsells the A4 as the former is down 24% and the latter loses 40% of its sales. The Acura TLX does even worse at -54% and is under threat of the Genesis G70. The Cadillac CT4 outperforms the class at -9%, moving past the Volvo 60-Series and Infiniti Q50, both down by just about half. So is the Alfa Giulia at #23.
US midsized car sales 2022-H1
| Midsized segment | 2022-H1 | 2021-H1 | Change | 2022 Share | 2021 Share | 2022-Q2 | Change | |
| 1 | Toyota Camry | 135.925 | 177.671 | -23% | 21,3% | 23,2% | 74.420 | -25% |
| 2 | Tesla Model 3 (est.) | 90.100 | 51.510 | 75% | 14,1% | 6,7% | 49.900 | 76% |
| 3 | Honda Accord | 80.422 | 114.707 | -30% | 12,6% | 15,0% | 38.383 | -44% |
| 4 | Nissan Altima | 78.610 | 61.930 | 27% | 12,3% | 8,1% | 40.315 | 35% |
| 5 | Chevrolet Malibu | 58.169 | 31.886 | 82% | 9,1% | 4,2% | 32.487 | 563% |
| 6 | Kia K5 | 35.312 | 51.104 | -31% | 5,5% | 6,7% | 17.490 | -43% |
| 7 | Lexus ES | 21.878 | 22.792 | -4% | 3,4% | 3,0% | 11.827 | -6% |
| 8 | Hyundai Sonata | 19.595 | 54.198 | -64% | 3,1% | 7,1% | 11.851 | -65% |
| 9 | BMW 3-series | 14.330 | 23.776 | -40% | 2,2% | 3,1% | 6.174 | -57% |
| 10 | BMW 4-series | 14.025 | 12.533 | 12% | 2,2% | 1,6% | 6.646 | -14% |
| 11 | Subaru Legacy | 12.335 | 12.921 | -5% | 1,9% | 1,7% | 6.815 | 3% |
| 12 | Lexus IS | 10.911 | 13.393 | -19% | 1,7% | 1,7% | 6.449 | -12% |
| 13 | Mercedes-Benz C-Class | 9.144 | 17.795 | -49% | 1,4% | 2,3% | 8.650 | -14% |
| 14 | Audi A5 / S5 | 8.624 | 11.295 | -24% | 1,4% | 1,5% | 4.783 | -29% |
| 15 | Audi A4 / S4 | 7.283 | 12.201 | -40% | 1,1% | 1,6% | 3.430 | -52% |
| 16 | Acura TLX | 7.122 | 15.412 | -54% | 1,1% | 2,0% | 4.131 | -55% |
| 17 | Genesis G70 | 6.762 | 4.789 | 41% | 1,1% | 0,6% | 3.889 | 33% |
| 18 | Kia Stinger | 5.163 | 6.498 | -21% | 0,8% | 0,8% | 2.056 | -49% |
| 19 | Cadillac CT4 | 4.510 | 4.930 | -9% | 0,7% | 0,6% | 2.617 | 14% |
| 20 | Volvo 60 series | 4.004 | 7.371 | -46% | 0,6% | 1,0% | 1.184 | -57% |
| 21 | Infiniti Q50 | 3.717 | 8.482 | -56% | 0,6% | 1,1% | 1.288 | -69% |
| 22 | Volkswagen Passat | 2.408 | 11.367 | -79% | 0,4% | 1,5% | 63 | -99% |
| 23 | Alfa Romeo Giulia | 2.324 | 4.284 | -46% | 0,4% | 0,6% | 1.179 | -47% |
| 24 | Infiniti Q60 | 1.403 | 1.526 | -8% | 0,2% | 0,2% | 635 | -24% |
| 25 | Toyota Mirai | 1.358 | 1.597 | -15% | 0,2% | 0,2% | 643 | -12% |
| 26 | Lexus RC | 1.150 | 1.702 | -32% | 0,2% | 0,2% | 689 | -26% |
| 27 | Mazda6 | 334 | 10.026 | -97% | 0,1% | 1,3% | 9 | -100% |
| 28 | Honda Clarity | 207 | 2.103 | -90% | 0,0% | 0,3% | 53 | -94% |
| 29 | Volkswagen Arteon | 170 | 2.781 | -94% | 0,0% | 0,4% | 123 | -93% |
| 30 | Buick Regal | 15 | 36 | -58% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 14 | -22% |
| 31 | Jaguar XE | 10 | 101 | -90% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 0 | -100% |
| 32 | Chrysler 200 | 2 | 3 | -33% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 0 | -100% |
| 33 | Volkswagen CC | 1 | 3 | -67% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 0 | -100% |
| 34 | Ford Fusion | 0 | 11.453 | -100% | 0,0% | 1,5% | 0 | -100% |
| 35 | Lincoln MKZ | 0 | 1.633 | -100% | 0,0% | 0,2% | 0 | -100% |
| Segment total | 637.323 | 765.809 | -17% | 338.193 | -19% |
Source: Manufacturers.