Sales fall in the third quarter despite a bevy of fresh models
After inching up slowly in the first two quarters of the year, sales in the Limousine segment in the US fell by 16% in the third quarter, the worst performance from among all Premium segments, car and SUV. That said, total sales so far this year (42,929) are only 3.6% down on this time last year, which is a better performance than both the Premium Compact and Premium Mid-sized segments. Moreover, with many new models still building sales (BMW 7-series, Cadillac CT6, Genesis G90, Porsche Panamera) and two new models about to go on sales in the third quarter (Audi A8 and Lexus LS) the prospect for the segment looks bright in the next year.
Highlights for Q3 2017
- The Top 3 remains unchanged from previous quarters, with the Mercedes-Benz S-class (sales down 20% YTD) remaining the comfortable segment leader, ahead of the Cadillac CT6 (sales up 51% YTD) and the BMW 7-series (sales down 29% YTD) – this state of things must be very disappointing for BMW, who instead of challenging the five-year-old S-class see the 7-series lose more sales than its rival, and lose out to the upstart Cadillac
- Closer inspection, however, reveals that not all is well in the Cadillac camp, as the CT6 actually lost 20% of its sales in the third quarter – less than either the Mercedes or the BMW, but still not great for a car that’s barely more than a year old
- A big reason for the Top 3’s subpar performance comes in the form of the fourth-placed Porsche Panamera and the fifth-placed Genesis G90 – both have been doing very well in the market, with the Porsche seeing it sales rise by more than 50% for a second quarter in a row, and the Genesis clearly outperforming the old Hyundai Equus, whose annual sales record of just under 4,000 units it is on course to crush (contrast this to the performance of its smaller G80 brother in the Premium Large segment, whose sales are barely half of its predecessor, the Hyundai Genesis)
- Most other models in the segment lost between 20% and 40% of sales compared to last year, with the exception being the Maserati Quattroporte, which is up 31% YTD thanks in large part to an impressive 59% growth in sales in the third quarter, thanks to a recent facelift
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