The exotic car segment in Europe is down 15% in the first three quarters of 2022 in an overall market down 11. The compact sports car segment also trails the overall market with a 15% decline, but the large sports car segment does much better with a 24% gain in deliveries after a 51% jump in the third quarter.
For the last 2 years, Ferrari has held 3 of the top-4 spots in the Exotic car segment, and in 2021 it even had the overall best seller with the F8. In the first nine months of 2022, the Italian brand holds only one podium place as the Bentley Continental GT reclaims the top position with a 46% jump in deliveries. That knocks the Ferrari F8 into second place as it loses almost half of its sales of last year. The Lamborghini Huracan is up 49% so far this year, outselling the Ferrari SF90, up 9%, and the Ferrari 812, down 18%. That still makes it three Ferraris and four Italian nameplates in the top-5. The Aston Martin DB11 rebounds with a 6% gain, but it was outsold in the third quarter by the McLaren 700-Series. The Lamborghini Aventador had a good start of the year, but saw its sales drop by almost half in the third quarter. We can’t blame the Lamborghini Countach, as that remains a niche player with 15 registrations so far this year. The McLaren Artura and Aston Martin Valkyrie are also still in the single digits monthly.
2022 – Q1-Q3 Exotic car sales Europe
| Exotic car segment | 2022 Q1-Q3 | 2021 Q1-Q3 | Change | 2022 share | 2022-Q3 | Change | |
| 1 | Bentley Continental GT / GTC | 1.310 | 895 | 46% | 24,6% | 367 | 13% |
| 2 | Ferrari F8 | 1.044 | 1.981 | -47% | 19,6% | 247 | -42% |
| 3 | Lamborghini Huracan | 708 | 475 | 49% | 13,3% | 201 | 51% |
| 4 | Ferrari SF90 Stradale | 569 | 524 | 9% | 10,7% | 147 | -16% |
| 5 | Ferrari 812 Superfast | 558 | 683 | -18% | 10,5% | 214 | 5% |
| 6 | Aston Martin DB11 | 281 | 266 | 6% | 5,3% | 75 | -12% |
| 7 | McLaren 700 Series | 272 | 303 | -10% | 5,1% | 112 | 100% |
| 8 | Lamborghini Aventador | 221 | 252 | -12% | 4,2% | 36 | -49% |
| 9 | Aston Martin DBS Superleggera | 154 | 224 | -31% | 2,9% | 30 | -51% |
| 10 | McLaren GT | 41 | 112 | -63% | 0,8% | 12 | -65% |
| 11 | Rolls Royce Wraith | 29 | 53 | -45% | 0,5% | 10 | -17% |
| 12 | Rolls Royce Dawn | 29 | 52 | -44% | 0,5% | 13 | -19% |
| 13 | Ferrari Monza | 23 | 141 | -84% | 0,4% | 5 | -89% |
| 14 | Ford GT | 20 | 40 | -50% | 0,4% | 12 | -33% |
| 15 | Ferrari 488 GTB | 15 | 142 | -89% | 0,3% | 5 | -87% |
| 16 | Lamborghini Countach | 15 | 0 | New | 0,3% | 7 | New |
| 17 | McLaren 500/600 Series | 14 | 88 | -84% | 0,3% | 0 | -100% |
| 18 | McLaren Artura | 10 | 0 | New | 0,2% | 3 | New |
| 19 | Aston Martin Valkyrie | 7 | 0 | New | 0,1% | 3 | New |
| 20 | Ferrari GTC4Lusso | 1 | 36 | -97% | 0,0% | 0 | -100% |
| Segment total | 5.321 | 6.267 | -15% | 1.499 | -13% |
Large Sports car segment
The large sports car segment is the best performing segment in Europe with sales up 24% so far this year. The Porsche 911 is up 22% and thus remains ultra-dominant with a 63.9% share of the class. The Mercedes-AMG GT is up 24% even though it’s now a coupe only as the convertible has been renamed Mercedes-AMG SL. The SL was the #2 seller in the class in the third quarter and therefore moves into fourth place year-to-date. It gives Mercedes a 14.9% share of the class. The Jaguar F-Type underperforms at -16% but holds on to third place, for now. The Ferrari Roma is up 3% but down to fifth but its convertible version Ferrari Portofino is up almost threefold and up to #7. The Portofino even outsold the Aston Martin Vantage in the third quarter. Thanks to the new generation, the Corvette is up more than sevenfold on last year, but it drops to 8th compared to the first half of the year when it was 6th. The Audi R8 and Lexus LC struggle and are now split by newcomer Ferrari 296 GTB. Its sibling Maserati MC20 is not yet storming the charts as the 296.
2022 – Q1-Q3 large sports car sales Europe
| Large sports car segment | 2022 Q1-Q3 | 2021 Q1-Q3 | Change | 2022 share | 2022-Q3 | Change | |
| 1 | Porsche 911 | 14.534 | 11.953 | 22% | 62,9% | 4.249 | 30% |
| 2 | Mercedes-AMG GT | 2.247 | 1.818 | 24% | 9,7% | 764 | 94% |
| 3 | Jaguar F-type | 1.730 | 2.056 | -16% | 7,5% | 474 | 12% |
| 4 | Mercedes-AMG SL | 1.200 | 59 | 1934% | 5,2% | 881 | 9689% |
| 5 | Ferrari Roma | 842 | 816 | 3% | 3,6% | 243 | -14% |
| 6 | Aston Martin V8/V12 Vantage | 574 | 507 | 13% | 2,5% | 187 | 21% |
| 7 | Ferrari Portofino | 509 | 187 | 172% | 2,2% | 205 | 150% |
| 8 | Corvette | 500 | 71 | 604% | 2,2% | 179 | 539% |
| 9 | Audi R8 | 350 | 531 | -34% | 1,5% | 88 | -48% |
| 10 | Ferrari 296 GTB | 216 | 0 | New | 0,9% | 132 | New |
| 11 | Lexus LC | 201 | 337 | -40% | 0,9% | 47 | -46% |
| 12 | Maserati MC20 | 179 | 29 | 517% | 0,8% | 60 | 107% |
| 13 | Nissan GT-R | 36 | 189 | -81% | 0,2% | 8 | -76% |
| 14 | BMW i8 | 0 | 44 | -100% | 0,0% | 0 | -100% |
| 15 | Honda NSX | 0 | 1 | -100% | 0,0% | 0 | New |
| Segment total | 23.118 | 18.598 | 24% | 7.517 | 51% |
Compact Sports car segment
Compact sports cars have underperformed in recent years, and they’re still underperforming the overall market in 2022 at -15%. The BMW Z4 continues its class leadership, despite losing 16% of its sales. The Mazda MX-5 is down 42% in the third quarter and -33% year-to-date. As a result it drops to third place behind the Audi TT, which is down just 4% on last year despite its advanced age. The MX-5 was even outsold by the Porsche 718 in Q3. The Alpine A110 is having a good year with sales up 50% so far, but in Q3 it’s leapfrogged by the Ford Mustang, despite the latter being due for a redesign. The Mustang’s biggest rivals in the US are the Dodge Challenger and Chevrolet Camaro. The former is up 1% in 8th place after a 62% jump in deliveries in Q3, while the latter is almost down to zero in Europe. The Toyota Supra is down 20% after a strong third quarter when it was up 47%, but its smaller sibling GR86 is up more than fourfold thanks to the new generation. Its clone Subaru BRZ hasn’t arrived in Europe yet. Lotus has ended production of the trio of its older models and launched the Emira in the third quarter.
2022 – Q1-Q3 small sports car sales Europe
| Compact sports car segment | 2022 Q1-Q3 | 2021 Q1-Q3 | Change | 2022 share | 2022-Q3 | Change | |
| 1 | BMW Z4 | 5.647 | 6.687 | -16% | 23,4% | 1.515 | -13% |
| 2 | Audi TT | 4.407 | 4.584 | -4% | 18,3% | 1.658 | 6% |
| 3 | Mazda MX-5 | 4.108 | 6.162 | -33% | 17,0% | 1.148 | -42% |
| 4 | Porsche 718 Boxster/Cayman | 3.909 | 4.477 | -13% | 16,2% | 1.287 | -1% |
| 5 | Ford Mustang | 2.449 | 2.853 | -14% | 10,1% | 985 | 29% |
| 6 | Alpine A110 | 2.277 | 1.522 | 50% | 9,4% | 687 | 11% |
| 7 | Toyota Supra | 674 | 847 | -20% | 2,8% | 294 | 47% |
| 8 | Dodge Challenger | 287 | 285 | 1% | 1,2% | 147 | 62% |
| 9 | Toyota GR86 | 118 | 26 | 354% | 0,5% | 55 | 1733% |
| 10 | Lotus Elise | 111 | 258 | -57% | 0,5% | 2 | -97% |
| 11 | Lotus Exige | 92 | 198 | -54% | 0,4% | 3 | -95% |
| 12 | Mercedes-Benz SLC | 24 | 258 | -91% | 0,1% | 6 | -33% |
| 13 | Chevrolet Camaro | 17 | 201 | -92% | 0,1% | 1 | -98% |
| 14 | Lotus Emira | 9 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 9 | New |
| 15 | Lotus Evora | 7 | 34 | -79% | 0,0% | 0 | -100% |
| 16 | Subaru BRZ | 4 | 136 | -97% | 0,0% | 1 | -97% |
| 17 | Nissan 370Z | 0 | 18 | -100% | 0,0% | 0 | -100% |
| Segment total | 24.140 | 28.546 | -15% | 7.798 | -8% |
Car sales statistics are from the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.
Sources: Manufacturers, ANDC, JATO Dynamics.