US car sales analysis 2018 Q2 – Large segment

Krzysztof Wozniak
US Large car segment
1

New Toyota Avalon sees sales rise only slowly while Dodge Charger remains firmly in the lead of a declining segment
Sales in the US Large segment fell by 12.0% to 170,762 in the first half of 2018, continuing on from the 11.5% decline registered in 2017. With the Toyota Avalon being the only meaningful arrival 2018 looks to be another tough year for the segment, leading more and more carmakers to consider abandoning it altogether for the far-more-popular and profitable Large SUV segment.

Highlights:

  • Dodge Charger once again outperformed the segment and its old age once again, and remains the clear segment leader
  • Although sales of Chevrolet Impala were technically up by almost a third in the second quarter of the year, this was based on a particularly poor Q2’17 – in reality, sales of the large Chevy fell pretty much in line with the Chrysler 300
  • After a good run sales of the still-relatively-new Nissan Maxima have definitely began to slide, even registering a fall of over a third in Q2’18, suggesting the model’s ten-year-high that was 2017 is unlikely to be beaten this year, as the model drops to fourth behind the Chrysler

Note: clicking on the model name opens the sales data page for that model; clicking year in the legend turns the display for that year on/off

  • The new Toyota Avalon outsold the aging Ford Taurus in the second quarter of the year, but has been unable to overtake the model in YTD standings so far
  • After seeing its sales finally rise in Q1’18 by over 40%, the new Buick LaCrosse was back in the red with an almost halving of sales in the second quarter of the year
  • Similarly, the good run of the new Kia Cadenza came to a halt in Q2’18 when sales fell by over a quarter, a huge slowdown relative to the almost-twofold growth in Q1’18
  • Towards the bottom of the segment we’re witnessing the exit of the Hyundai Azera, Chevrolet Caprice and Chevrolet SS

Note: clicking on the model names in legend turns the display for that model on/off; data is displayed from 1990 onwards, but starts in 1973 – access previous years using slider on bottom