US sales Q3 2017: Premium Mid-sized segment

Krzysztof Wozniak
US Premium mid-sized car segment
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The segment dips into the red but still outperforms other premium car segments

US-sales-premium_midsized_car-segmentSales of Premium Mid-sized cars fell by 9% in the third quarter of the year, down to 316,919, erasing the sales gains recorded over the first half of the year. Still, the segment is still the best performing from among all premium car segments, with all the other ones losing more sales since the beginning of the year. A big reason for is that over the past year a lot of new metal has hit the market (Audi A5, Infiniti Q60, Alfa Romeo Giulia), while a few other models are still fresh and growing strong (Audi A4, Jaguar XE). With the new BMW 3-Series around the corner, and a new Lexus IS and Volvo S60 not far off, the prospects are pretty good for this segment, despite the onslaught from premium SUVs.

Highlights for Q3 2017

BMW 4-series Gran Coupe
  • Mercedes-Benz C-class remains the segment leader for individual nameplates, but that’s only because we can’t see separate sales for the sedan and coupe; when combined, the C-class falls behind the dominant BMW 3-Series and 4-series duo, even though the sedan and wagon lost 19% compare to this time last year, a loss not made up by the 16% gain in sales for the 4-series coupe, cabriolet and hatchback
  • In fact, this is a trend visible elsewhere: the newer Audi A5 and Infiniti Q60 contributed to sales losses for their sedan counterparts in the third quarter (the still-new Audi A4 was down 9%, Infiniti Q50 was down 25%), though they themselves recorded great sales rises, with sales of the A5 more than doubling on YTD sales in 2016
  • Older models did less well, with the facelifted Acura TLX, Lincoln MKZ and Volvo 60-series seeing their sales dip in the low double-digits, while the Lexus IS and RC duo, as well as Cadillac ATS all loosing around 30% of their sales
  • At the back Jaguar XE stayed ahead of Alfa Romeo Giulia even though it was once again outsold by the Italian, just as it was in Q2’17, though neither model can right now be seen as a big success

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

Photo credit: MotorTrend