The large sedan segment is one of the fastest declining in the US (after the subcompact class), with sales down to half of what they were in the first half of 2019. And they’ve been declining for the past 6 years already. In Q2, sales were down 57.4% to fewer than 50,000 deliveries. All of the top-7 best selling nameplates lose more than one third of their sales compared to the first half of last year.
The Dodge Charger is down by33% and improves its share of the segment to 26.2%, up from 19.8% in 2019. And when combining its platform sibling Chrysler 300, FCA holds 33.5% of this segment, with models that are the oldest in the class. Especially Dodge is doing a great job at keeping interest in the Charger alive by launching limited editions and appealing to the muscle car crowd. The 300 is down 47% (-63% in Q2) and falls behind the Nissan Maxima in the ranking. The Toyota Avalon does even worse, but the Chevrolet Impala is the biggest loser in the top-15 as production has ended. Among mainstream players, the Kia Cadenza is the best performer with sales down just 12%, but it remains a niche player with just 670 sales in six months. Production of the Buick LaCrosse has ended as well, leaving General Motors with just a single nameplate in the large car segment with the Cadillac CT5.
In the luxury part of the segment, which makes up about 44.3% of the overall large car class, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class still dominates the ranking with a 35% decline compared to a 54% loss for the BMW 5-Series (-60% in Q2). The Tesla Model S returns to the podium with sales down 11% to move ahead of the Audi A6. We welcome the Cadillac CT5 to the ranking in fourth place among luxury models, selling at more than double the rate of the Lincoln Continental, despite a relatively small 9% loss for that nameplate. The Genesis G80 is down 40% just before its upcoming redesign, while the Audi A7 loses 60% of its sales. That still keeps it ahead of the Mercedes-Benz CLS, despite the latter almost doubling its volume thanks to the new generation. Production of the Cadillac XTS and CTS has already ended, yet the former still outsells the Acura RLX and Jaguar XF.
US large car sales 2020 – first half
| Large car segment | 2020 | 2019 | Change | Share | |
| 1 | Dodge Charger | 30.084 | 45.046 | -33% | 26,2% |
| 2 | Mercedes-Benz E-class | 13.123 | 20.322 | -35% | 11,4% |
| 3 | BMW 5-series | 10.335 | 22.703 | -54% | 9,0% |
| 4 | Nissan Maxima | 10.086 | 16.795 | -40% | 8,8% |
| 5 | Chrysler 300 | 8.383 | 15.857 | -47% | 7,3% |
| 6 | Toyota Avalon | 7.563 | 14.857 | -49% | 6,6% |
| 7 | Chevrolet Impala | 6.998 | 25.795 | -73% | 6,1% |
| 8 | Tesla Model S | 6.450 | 7.225 | -11% | 5,6% |
| 9 | Cadillac CT5 | 5.575 | 0 | New | 4,9% |
| 10 | Audi A6 / S6 | 4.568 | 9.902 | -54% | 4,0% |
| 11 | Lincoln Continental | 2.575 | 2.845 | -9% | 2,2% |
| 12 | Genesis G80 | 2.001 | 3.353 | -40% | 1,7% |
| 13 | Lexus GS | 1.303 | 1.730 | -25% | 1,1% |
| 14 | Audi A7 / S7 | 1.244 | 3.142 | -60% | 1,1% |
| 15 | Volvo 90 series | 886 | 1.992 | -56% | 0,8% |
| 16 | Mercedes-Benz CLS | 794 | 417 | 90% | 0,7% |
| 17 | Cadillac XTS | 737 | 9.093 | -92% | 0,6% |
| 18 | Kia Cadenza | 670 | 763 | -12% | 0,6% |
| 19 | Acura RLX | 401 | 673 | -40% | 0,3% |
| 20 | Jaguar XF | 349 | 771 | -55% | 0,3% |
| 21 | Cadillac CTS | 328 | 4.871 | -93% | 0,3% |
| 22 | Buick LaCrosse | 209 | 5.389 | -96% | 0,2% |
| 23 | Infiniti Q70 | 129 | 1.693 | -92% | 0,1% |
| 24 | BMW 6-series | 118 | 951 | -88% | 0,1% |
| Segment total | 114.909 | 227.180 | -49% |
Source: Manufacturers.