In 2021 the midsized car segment is down 6% in an overall market down 2%, as its share of the European car market drops to 6.3%, down from 6.6% in 2020. Luxury brands continue to increase their dominance of this class, improving their share to 68.3% from 62.3% last year and claiming seven of the top-10 positions. In Q4 of 2021, sales of midsized cars were down 31% in a market down 24%, and of the top-10 only two nameplates improved while all others lost a third of their sales or more.
With sales up 64% to a new record for any electric car in Europe, the Tesla Model 3 takes the overall lead of the class, passing the BMW 3-Series which is down 4% on last year. Former class leader Volkswagen Passat is down to third place and loses share with sales down 28%. It’s still well ahead of the rest of the pack, led by the Audi A4 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class, both of which are quickly losing share of the class. A new generation C-Class has landed in showrooms by the end of the year and should help the model recover the position it lost to the A4. With sales down 19%, the Volvo S60/V60 also loses share but manages to stay ahead of the Skoda Superb wich is down 23%. The BMW 4-Series is helped by the new generation to jump 4 places and now outsells its direct rival Audi A5 again. The A5 makes it four VW Group nameplates in the top-10 while a fifth model is just behind at #11: the Volkswagen Arteon, up 55% thanks to recent updates and the addition of a Shooting Brake version. The Peugeot 508 sees its sales drop 13% on last year and therefore loses share of the segment but holds on to its top-10 place for now.
Its sibling Opel/Vauxhall Insignia gains share with sales down just 4% and passes the Ford Mondeo which is down 36 as it nears the end of its life cycle with no direct replacement in sight. Its mainstream rivals Toyota Camry (-10%) and Renault Talisman (-30%) also lose share. Meanwhile, the all-electric Polestar 2 outsells them all in 12th place and even placed #9 in the final quarter. The Subaru Legacy is up 57% to outsell the Mazda6 which is down 30%. We welcome the all-electric BMW i4 at #22 and the Genesis G70 at #27, just ahead of the Citroën C5 X and Xpeng P5 all-electric sedan.
| Midsized segment | 2021 | 2020 | Change | 2021 share | 2020 share | 2021-Q4 | 2020-Q4 | Change | |
| 1 | Tesla Model 3 | 140.868 | 85.979 | 64% | 19,0% | 10,9% | 40.870 | 29.811 | 37% |
| 2 | BMW 3-series | 113.209 | 118.369 | -4% | 15,2% | 15,0% | 17.560 | 36.217 | -52% |
| 3 | Volkswagen Passat | 82.488 | 115.363 | -28% | 11,1% | 14,6% | 13.226 | 36.464 | -64% |
| 4 | Audi A4 / S4 / RS4 | 59.251 | 77.515 | -24% | 8,0% | 9,8% | 9.247 | 18.184 | -49% |
| 5 | Mercedes-Benz C-Class | 56.927 | 81.909 | -30% | 7,7% | 10,4% | 11.415 | 19.825 | -42% |
| 6 | Volvo S60/V60 | 47.054 | 58.003 | -19% | 6,3% | 7,4% | 10.115 | 15.384 | -34% |
| 7 | Skoda Superb | 46.285 | 59.925 | -23% | 6,2% | 7,6% | 10.025 | 17.681 | -43% |
| 8 | BMW 4-series | 33.083 | 18.139 | 82% | 4,5% | 2,3% | 9.077 | 4.763 | 91% |
| 9 | Audi A5 / S5 / RS5 | 26.100 | 28.525 | -9% | 3,5% | 3,6% | 3.662 | 8.174 | -55% |
| 10 | Peugeot 508 | 25.202 | 29.011 | -13% | 3,4% | 3,7% | 4.960 | 7.911 | -37% |
| 11 | Volkswagen Arteon | 20.994 | 13.582 | 55% | 2,8% | 1,7% | 4.832 | 3.286 | 47% |
| 12 | Polestar 2 | 20.949 | 8.746 | 140% | 2,8% | 1,1% | 8.551 | 5.509 | 55% |
| 13 | Opel/Vauxhall Insignia | 20.384 | 21.133 | -4% | 2,7% | 2,7% | 4.708 | 7.560 | -38% |
| 14 | Ford Mondeo | 13.481 | 21.222 | -36% | 1,8% | 2,7% | 2.400 | 5.209 | -54% |
| 15 | Toyota Camry | 8.222 | 9.119 | -10% | 1,1% | 1,2% | 1.519 | 2.347 | -35% |
| 16 | Alfa Romeo Giulia | 6.297 | 7.436 | -15% | 0,8% | 0,9% | 1.700 | 2.085 | -18% |
| 17 | Subaru Legacy / Outback | 6.045 | 3.844 | 57% | 0,8% | 0,5% | 1.314 | 1.413 | -7% |
| 18 | Renault Talisman | 5.608 | 8.025 | -30% | 0,8% | 1,0% | 1.145 | 2.500 | -54% |
| 19 | Mazda6 | 4.890 | 6.950 | -30% | 0,7% | 0,9% | 790 | 1.666 | -53% |
| 20 | Jaguar XE | 2.039 | 3.780 | -46% | 0,3% | 0,5% | 239 | 335 | -29% |
| 21 | Kia Stinger | 1.142 | 1.387 | -18% | 0,2% | 0,2% | 146 | 224 | -35% |
| 22 | BMW i4 | 762 | 0 | New | 0,1% | 0,0% | 576 | 0 | New |
| 23 | Lexus IS | 551 | 1.855 | -70% | 0,1% | 0,2% | 16 | 489 | -97% |
| 24 | Kia Optima | 430 | 6.086 | -93% | 0,1% | 0,8% | 7 | 1.181 | -99% |
| 25 | Subaru Levorg | 417 | 825 | -49% | 0,1% | 0,1% | 58 | 407 | -86% |
| 26 | Lexus RC | 96 | 710 | -86% | 0,0% | 0,1% | 5 | 142 | -96% |
| 27 | Genesis G70 | 96 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | 50 | 0 | New |
| 28 | Citroën C5 X | 63 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | 21 | 0 | New |
| 29 | Xpeng P5 | 8 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | 8 | 0 | New |
| Segment total | 742.941 | 787.815 | -6% | 158.242 | 228.767 | -31% |
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.