Sales of large cars in Europe continue to trail the overall market at -21% vs -13% in the first quarter of 2022. They now hold a share of just 1.9% of the total market, down from 2.1% in the same period last year. A slew of all-electric models is ready to storm the charts in coming years to take over control from the traditional leaders.
The top-3 is thrown upside down compared to the first quarter of 2021, with the BMW 5-Series taking control thanks to sales down 12%, while the Audi A6 loses 24% and the Mercedes-Benz E-Class delivers 42% fewer vehicles than last year. As a result, the traditional top-3 players now hold just 71.1% share of their class, down more than 6 percentage points from 77.3% a year ago. As mentioned above, this is a result of strong sales of among others the Porsche Taycan, up 50% into 4th place and its sibling model Audi e-Tron GT, up to 6th place. In contrast, sales of the Volvo S90/V90 are down 39%, while the Audi A7 is stable at #7, just ahead of the Lexus ES. The Mercedes-Benz CLS is making a comeback at +37%, while the DS9 I up 29% to outsell the Jaguar XF (-57%). We welcome the all-electric Mercedes-Benz EQE to the charts at #14, just ahead of the Xpeng P7 and Genesis G80. Sales of the Tesla Model S have come to all but a halt now that the competition has heated up and the American is starting to get long in the tooth. It will be interesting to see how the EQE, a somewhat traditional luxury sedan, will compare to the Taycan and e-Tron GT, which are clearly more coupe-like and sportier in character.
| Large car segment | 2022-Q1 | 2021-Q1 | Change | 2022 share | 2021 share | |
| 1 | BMW 5-series | 13.854 | 15.694 | -12% | 26,7% | 24,1% |
| 2 | Audi A6 / S6 / RS6 / Allroad | 12.210 | 16.078 | -24% | 23,5% | 24,6% |
| 3 | Mercedes-Benz E-Class | 10.820 | 18.650 | -42% | 20,9% | 28,6% |
| 4 | Porsche Taycan | 4.938 | 3.302 | 50% | 9,5% | 5,1% |
| 5 | Volvo S90/V90 | 3.717 | 6.136 | -39% | 7,2% | 9,4% |
| 6 | Audi e-Tron GT | 1.718 | 493 | 248% | 3,3% | 0,8% |
| 7 | Audi A7 / S7 / RS7 | 1.252 | 1.253 | 0% | 2,4% | 1,9% |
| 8 | Lexus ES | 1.089 | 1.245 | -13% | 2,1% | 1,9% |
| 9 | Mercedes-Benz CLS | 781 | 572 | 37% | 1,5% | 0,9% |
| 10 | DS9 | 330 | 255 | 29% | 0,6% | 0,4% |
| 11 | Jaguar XF | 263 | 607 | -57% | 0,5% | 0,9% |
| 12 | BMW 6-series | 262 | 366 | -28% | 0,5% | 0,6% |
| 13 | Maserati Ghibli | 253 | 361 | -30% | 0,5% | 0,6% |
| 14 | Mercedes-Benz EQE | 161 | 0 | New | 0,3% | 0,0% |
| 15 | Xpeng P7 | 129 | 0 | New | 0,2% | 0,0% |
| 16 | Genesis G80 | 45 | 5 | 800% | 0,1% | 0,0% |
| 17 | Polestar 1 | 23 | 14 | 64% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 18 | Dodge Charger | 9 | 11 | -18% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 19 | Tesla Model S | 5 | 198 | -97% | 0,0% | 0,3% |
| Segment total | 51.859 | 65.240 | -21% |
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.