Sales of Sports Large sports cars in the US shrank by 5.4% in 2015 to 55,100 units, after showing growth in the first half of the year, similar to the Exotic car segment, for which the downward trend in the second half was even more obvious. Only one existing model has been able to grow its volume in 2015, as even the distant leader of the segment, the Corvette, is down 4% after four straight years of growth. If in Europe the Porsche 911 is ultra-dominant in the large sports car segment with about 50% share, in the US the Corvette holds an even more impressive 60% share of the segment. The 911 is in second place with less than a third of the volume of the leader.
The Jaguar F-type, #2 in Europe, moves past the Mercedes-Benz SL into third place as its sales grow 13% thanks to the addition of the coupe version. Mercedes-Benz now has two models in the center field of the class, with the AMG GT as a newcomer, of which they hope it will be a 911-fighter. Its first partial year of sales add up to 1,277, not nearly enough to put it anywhere close to the Porsche, but ahead of the aging Nissan GT-R, down 23% and the Audi R8, down 33% as the second generation will be launched in 2016. The Jaguar XK is being phased out and the Mercedes-Benz CL has been replaced by the S-Class Coupe.
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