The midsized car segment beats the overall market in the first quarter of 2022, with a 7% decline in deliveries compared to a 13% drop for the entire market. As a result, midsized cars now make up 7% of the total volume, up from 6.6% in the first quarter of 2021. Luxury models improve their share of the class by 7 percentage points to 76.6%.
The Tesla Model 3 continues where it left off in 2021: at the top of the midsized car ranking with an impressive 17.6% share of the class thanks to sales up 8%. The Model 3 sells over 8,500 more units than its closest rival BMW 3-Series, down 27%. The Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Audi A4 slightly improve on last year and complete a top-4 entirely made of luxury models. That leaves the former class leader Volkswagen Passat down in 5th place, losing almost half of its sales. The C-Class is set to catch up on the 3-Series as an all-new generation is already in showrooms. Impressive growth from the Peugeot 508 in 6th place belies a terrible performance last year, but at least it now outsells the Skoda Superb, down 14%.
Thanks to the new generation, the BMW 4-Series more than doubles its sales of last year and moves past the Volvo S60/V60 which lose more than half of their sales. The Audi A5 is pretty stable at +4% but feels the Polestar 2 breathing down its neck. The Volkswagen Arteon outsells the Opel/Vauxhall Insignia and Ford Mondeo, both of which show double digit losses. The all-electric BMW i4 is up to #15, ahead of the Toyota Camry which is also under pressure from the Subaru Legacy/Outback. The Alfa Romeo Giulia is up 14% and moves past the Renault Talisman. The Citroën C5 X hasn’t made its breakthrough yet and neither have the Toyota Mirai and Genesis G70, if any of those three ever will become anything more than a niche vehicle.
| Midsized segment | 2022-Q1 | 2021-Q1 | Change | 2022 share | 2021 share | |
| 1 | Tesla Model 3 | 32.767 | 30.309 | 8% | 17,6% | 15,1% |
| 2 | BMW 3-series | 24.300 | 33.311 | -27% | 13,0% | 16,6% |
| 3 | Mercedes-Benz C-Class | 19.038 | 18.545 | 3% | 10,2% | 9,2% |
| 4 | Audi A4 / S4 / RS4 | 17.094 | 16.457 | 4% | 9,2% | 8,2% |
| 5 | Volkswagen Passat | 14.966 | 26.916 | -44% | 8,0% | 13,4% |
| 6 | Peugeot 508 | 12.956 | 6.183 | 110% | 7,0% | 3,1% |
| 7 | Skoda Superb | 11.839 | 13.846 | -14% | 6,4% | 6,9% |
| 8 | BMW 4-series | 11.693 | 5.574 | 110% | 6,3% | 2,8% |
| 9 | Volvo S60/V60 | 7.592 | 17.124 | -56% | 4,1% | 8,5% |
| 10 | Audi A5 / S5 / RS5 | 6.716 | 6.437 | 4% | 3,6% | 3,2% |
| 11 | Polestar 2 | 6.440 | 4.068 | 58% | 3,5% | 2,0% |
| 12 | Volkswagen Arteon | 4.787 | 4.296 | 11% | 2,6% | 2,1% |
| 13 | Opel/Vauxhall Insignia | 2.798 | 4.855 | -42% | 1,5% | 2,4% |
| 14 | Ford Mondeo | 2.547 | 4.149 | -39% | 1,4% | 2,1% |
| 15 | BMW i4 | 2.522 | 0 | New | 1,4% | 0,0% |
| 16 | Toyota Camry | 1.896 | 2.030 | -7% | 1,0% | 1,0% |
| 17 | Subaru Legacy / Outback | 1.629 | 1.163 | 40% | 0,9% | 0,6% |
| 18 | Alfa Romeo Giulia | 1.432 | 1.257 | 14% | 0,8% | 0,6% |
| 19 | Renault Talisman | 1.287 | 1.407 | -9% | 0,7% | 0,7% |
| 20 | Mazda6 | 982 | 1.206 | -19% | 0,5% | 0,6% |
| 21 | Citroën C5 X | 413 | 0 | New | 0,2% | 0,0% |
| 22 | Jaguar XE | 306 | 616 | -50% | 0,2% | 0,3% |
| 23 | Kia Stinger | 178 | 450 | -60% | 0,1% | 0,2% |
| 24 | Toyota Mirai | 129 | 146 | -12% | 0,1% | 0,1% |
| 25 | Genesis G70 | 101 | 0 | New | 0,1% | 0,0% |
| 26 | Lexus RC | 5 | 48 | -90% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 27 | Lexus IS | 3 | 255 | -99% | 0,0% | 0,1% |
| 28 | Kia Optima | 1 | 282 | -100% | 0,0% | 0,1% |
| Segment total | 186.417 | 201.032 | -7% |
Car sales statistics are from the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.
Sources: Manufacturers, ANDC, JATO Dynamics.