US car sales analysis 2021-Q1 – Upper Class

The upper class sedan segment in the US is down 22% to less than 7,500 in Q1 of 2021, after a 26% decline in 2020. And with an overall market up 12%, the upper class segment is down to a share of  0.2% of the US passenger car market, down from 0.3% in Q1 of 2020. The traditional leader Mercedes-Benz S-Classis down 56% as a new generation will be launched this year and drops to fourth place in 2021. New leader is the all-electric Porsche Taycan, up more than ninefold to over 2,000 deliveries, giving it a share of 26.8% of the class, just ahead of the BMW 7-Series, which is up 14% to improve its share to 25.7%. The Lexus LS is up 42% to jump onto the podium as well. Cannibalized by the Taycan, the Porsche Panamera is down 62% to lose more than half of its share of the segment. The Audi A8 is down 20% but that means its outperforms the class, and it jumps ahead of the Genesis G90, down 39%. The Kia K900 is no longer the slowest seller of the segment as the Jaguar XJ is in the final stages of its life cycle, with a new generation delayed for a few years.

The Taycan proves that the future of upper class sedans is electric, and Mercedes-Benz will soon follow with its EQS and BMW with its i7, based on the new S-Class and 7-Series respectively. Especially the EQS promises to become the new standard in terms of range and connectivity in the same way a new S-Class has always been on the front of automotive development.

US upper class sedan sales 2021-Q1

	Upper class	2021-Q1	2020-Q1	Change	Share
1	Porsche Taycan	2.008	221	809%	26,8%
2	BMW 7-series	1.920	1.685	14%	25,7%
3	Lexus LS	1.137	801	42%	15,2%
4	Mercedes-Benz S-class	1.043	2.366	-56%	13,9%
5	Porsche Panamera	451	1.184	-62%	6,0%
6	Audi A8 / S8	441	554	-20%	5,9%
7	Genesis G90	415	684	-39%	5,5%
8	Kia K900	56	65	-14%	0,7%
9	Jaguar XJ	10	357	-97%	0,1%
10	Cadillac CT6	0	1.725	-100%	0,0%
	Segment total	7.481	9.642	-22%

Source: Manufacturers.