The Small Premium Sports segment shrank by 10% in the third quarter of 2015, a slightly better performance than in the first half of the year, when the sales were down 20%.
Highlights:
- The segment leader over the first three quarters of the year, Mercedes-Benz SLK, was outsold in Q3 2015 by the model that stands 2nd in the rankings, Porsche Cayman, which continues to shed its “discount Porsche” image with the customers as it racked up almost 40% more sales in Q3 than it did a year ago
- Cayman’s roadster sibling, the Boxster, hasn’t done so well and continues losing customers
- Sales of the 3rd-gen Audi TT finally began in the US, gaining the model 120% more customers in the last quarter; in doing so the model actually outsold BMW’s Z4, and vaulted past Alfa Romeo’s 4C for units sold in the first three quarters
