Sales collapse by almost a fifth as new models seem to run out of puff early
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Sales in the US Premium Limousine segment fell by 17.3% to 24,476 in the first half of 2019, a considerably worse performance than the mild 2.1% sales decline the model experienced in 2018. What’s more, with only the new Audi A8 and facelifted BMW 7-series new to the market this year, and the new Mercedes-Benz S-class still a way off, the fact that the segment shrank as much as it did despite plenty of still-new cars does not bode well for this year and next.
Highlights
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 soon-to-be-replaced Mercedes-Benz S-class, the once undisputed segment leader, saw its sales decline by over a quarter, which means that its lead over the second-placed BMW 7-series is only around 30%… while it seems unlikely that the newly-facelifted 7-series will outsell the grand master in 2019 overall, it may yet score a win in either Q3 or Q4’19
- Interestingly, to get to second spot in the standings the 7-series had to leap not one, not two, but three cars – quite the feat in this small segment; from among these were three still very fresh models, Cadillac CT6 and Porsche Panamera, which lost sales in the high teens, and Lexus LS, which saw its sales fall by almost 40%
- Behind these models was the new Audi A8, which although it saw its sales more than double, this is mainly driven by the fact that the model’s sales fall by almost three-quarters in the first half of 2018; as is, the model will sell less than half of its 2013 sales record of over 6,000 units
Note: clicking on the model names in legend turns the display for that model on/off; data is displayed from 1990 onwards, but starts earlier – access previous years using slider on bottom