The Premium Mid-sized segment continued growing in the third quarter, with sales up by 3% compared to Q3 2014 – a slightly slower pace of increase than for the first half of the year.
Lexus RCWhile the top two did not change compared to the first half of the year, with the BMW 3/4 series still selling 50% more units than the Mercedes-Benz C-class/CLK, there is a new car in third spot – the Lexus IS/RC. Clearly the latest, third generation of the Lexus is connecting better with buyers than the equivalent, third-generation Infiniti G50. Part of the reason may be Lexus’s RC model, which clearly captures sales that Infiniti’s last-generation Q60 is unable to bring in, although by Lexus’s own admission the RC is not exactly a big volume-generator, selling only 1 unit for 4 units of the IS the brand sells.
Otherwise, the big news in the segment is the Acura TLX, which keeps selling like hotcakes – it already passed the Audi A4/A5 to nab 5th place by the mid-year mark, and actually came to within 300 units of Infiniti’s Q40/Q50/Q60 cars. It is quite likely it sneaks past its Japanese rival in 2016, although Infiniti will also have its new Q60 on sale by then, while Acura does not plan to offer a coupe version of the TLX anytime soon.
Total sales for 2015 Q1-Q3; growth rates reported relative to 2014 Q1-Q3