In the first half of 2021, the midsized car segment is up 17% in an overall market up 26%, as its share of the European car market drops to 6.4%, down from 6.9% in the first half of last year. When compared to the first six months of 2019, midsized cars are down 24% in a market down 22%. Luxury brands continue to increase their dominance of this class, improving their share to 66.2% from 61.8% last year and claiming seven of the top-10 positions.
Thanks to a very strong June as well as sales doubling on last year, the Tesla Model 3 takes the overall lead of the class, passing the BMW 3-Series which is up 26% on last year. Former class leader Volkswagen Passat remains in third place but loses share with sales up 8%. 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 losing sales compared to the first half of 2020. A new generation C-Class is coming to showrooms soon and should help the model recover the position it lost to the A4. With sales down 3%, the Volvo S60/V60 also dropped behind the Audi and even behind the Skoda Superb which moves into 6th place. The BMW 4-Series is helped by the new generation to jump 2 places on its Q1 position 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 53% thanks to recent updates and the addition of a Shooting Brake version. The Peugeot 508 sees stable sales 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 is also stable on lat year, easily outselling hte Ford Mondeo which is down 31% as it nears the end of its life cycle with no direct replacement in sight. Its mainstream rivals Toyota Camry (+8%) and Renault Talisman (-1%) also lose share. Meanwhile, the all-electric Polestar 2 moves ahead into 13th place. A new generation more than doubles sales of the Subaru Legacy/Outback and lifts the duo past the Alfa Romeo Giulia (-5%) and Mazda6 (-12%). The Jaguar XE is quickly becoming obsolete with less than 200 sales per month.
| Midsized segment | 2021-H1 | 2020-H1 | Change | 2021 share | 2020 share | |
| 1 | Tesla Model 3 | 66.584 | 32.524 | 105% | 16,1% | 9,2% |
| 2 | BMW 3-series | 65.727 | 52.140 | 26% | 15,9% | 14,8% |
| 3 | Volkswagen Passat | 54.023 | 49.916 | 8% | 13,1% | 14,2% |
| 4 | Audi A4 / S4 / RS4 | 35.326 | 37.152 | -5% | 8,6% | 10,6% |
| 5 | Mercedes-Benz C-Class | 33.379 | 39.151 | -15% | 8,1% | 11,1% |
| 6 | Skoda Superb | 27.614 | 25.613 | 8% | 6,7% | 7,3% |
| 7 | Volvo S60/V60 | 28.031 | 28.984 | -3% | 6,8% | 8,2% |
| 8 | BMW 4-series | 15.527 | 8.531 | 82% | 3,8% | 2,4% |
| 9 | Audi A5 / S5 / RS5 | 15.390 | 11.937 | 29% | 3,7% | 3,4% |
| 10 | Peugeot 508 | 14.125 | 14.120 | 0% | 3,4% | 4,0% |
| 11 | Volkswagen Arteon | 11.122 | 7.256 | 53% | 2,7% | 2,1% |
| 12 | Opel/Vauxhall Insignia | 9.940 | 9.920 | 0% | 2,4% | 2,8% |
| 13 | Polestar 2 | 8.587 | 18 | 47606% | 2,1% | 0,0% |
| 14 | Ford Mondeo | 7.170 | 10.335 | -31% | 1,7% | 2,9% |
| 15 | Toyota Camry | 4.653 | 4.314 | 8% | 1,1% | 1,2% |
| 16 | Renault Talisman | 3.426 | 3.471 | -1% | 0,8% | 1,0% |
| 17 | Subaru Legacy / Outback | 3.139 | 1.389 | 126% | 0,8% | 0,4% |
| 18 | Alfa Romeo Giulia | 3.072 | 3.236 | -5% | 0,7% | 0,9% |
| 19 | Mazda6 | 2.722 | 3.095 | -12% | 0,7% | 0,9% |
| 20 | Jaguar XE | 1.398 | 2.617 | -47% | 0,3% | 0,7% |
| 21 | Kia Stinger | 780 | 750 | 4% | 0,2% | 0,2% |
| 22 | Lexus IS | 476 | 820 | -42% | 0,1% | 0,2% |
| 23 | Kia Optima | 404 | 3.691 | -89% | 0,1% | 1,0% |
| 24 | Subaru Levorg | 261 | 237 | 10% | 0,1% | 0,1% |
| 25 | Lexus RC | 76 | 299 | -75% | 0,0% | 0,1% |
| Segment total | 412.952 | 351.814 | 17% |
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.