Sales of large sedans in the US have been declining for the past 6 years, and that trend continues in Q1 of 2020. At -38% this is the second hardest hit segment after the subcompact car class. Large cars now account for just 1.9% of all US car sales, down from 2.7% in 2019. Seven out of the top-10 best selling nameplates lose more than one third of their sales compared to the first quarter of last year.
The Dodge Charger is down by just 10% and improves its share of the segment to 27.9%, up from 19.1% in 2019. And when combining its platform sibling Chrysler 300, FCA holds 36.3% of this segment. The Charger is probably slightly helped by police orders as Ford has stopped shipments of the Taurus, including the Police Interceptor, which accounted for about 2,000 sales per quarter in recent years. The 300 is down 32% but still manages to leapfrog the Chevrolet Impala for third place among mainstream players, as the Impala saw 63% of its sales disappear. That puts the Nissan Maxima in 2nd place in the mainstream large car segment despite a 42% decline. The Toyota Avalon moves with the overall segment at -38% which means it’s now nearly four times as popular in China than in the US, while the Kia Cadenza is the only mainstream model to actually sell more in Q1 of 2020 than in the same period of last year.
In the luxury part of the segment, which makes up about 40.1% of the overall large car class, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class still dominates the ranking with a 35% decline compared to a 48% loss for the BMW 5-Series. The Tesla Model S returns to the podium with sales down 10% to move ahead of the Audi A6. We welcome the Cadillac CT5 to the ranking in fourth place among luxury models, selling double the rate of the Lincoln Continental, despite a 15% gain for that nameplate. The Genesis G80 is down 19% just before its upcoming redesign, while the Audi A7 loses 63% 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
US large car sales 2020-Q1
| Large car segment | 2020 | 2019 | Change | Share | |
| 1 | Dodge Charger | 18.628 | 20.615 | -10% | 27,9% |
| 2 | Mercedes-Benz E-class | 6.652 | 10.184 | -35% | 10,0% |
| 3 | Nissan Maxima | 6.102 | 10.554 | -42% | 9,1% |
| 4 | Chrysler 300 | 5.596 | 8.290 | -32% | 8,4% |
| 5 | BMW 5-series | 5.395 | 10.345 | -48% | 8,1% |
| 6 | Chevrolet Impala | 4.965 | 13.259 | -63% | 7,4% |
| 7 | Toyota Avalon | 4.080 | 6.619 | -38% | 6,1% |
| 8 | Tesla Model S (est.) | 3.250 | 3.625 | -10% | 4,9% |
| 9 | Cadillac CT5 | 3.000 | 0 | New | 4,5% |
| 10 | Audi A6 / S6 | 2.492 | 5.358 | -53% | 3,7% |
| 11 | Lincoln Continental | 1.563 | 1.355 | 15% | 2,3% |
| 12 | Genesis G80 | 1.197 | 1.481 | -19% | 1,8% |
| 13 | Audi A7 / S7 | 649 | 1.766 | -63% | 1,0% |
| 14 | Lexus GS | 624 | 955 | -35% | 0,9% |
| 15 | Kia Cadenza | 485 | 411 | 18% | 0,7% |
| 16 | Cadillac XTS | 473 | 3.734 | -87% | 0,7% |
| 17 | Mercedes-Benz CLS (est.) | 408 | 210 | 94% | 0,6% |
| 18 | Volvo 90 series | 354 | 1.227 | -71% | 0,5% |
| 19 | Jaguar XF | 189 | 586 | -68% | 0,3% |
| 20 | Acura RLX | 178 | 381 | -53% | 0,3% |
| 21 | Cadillac CTS | 160 | 2.428 | -93% | 0,2% |
| 22 | Buick LaCrosse | 138 | 2.902 | -95% | 0,2% |
| 23 | Infiniti Q70 | 115 | 962 | -88% | 0,2% |
| 24 | BMW 6-series | 52 | 625 | -92% | 0,1% |
| Segment total | 66.745 | 107.872 | -38% |
Source: Manufacturers.