After showing stable sales in 2019, the midsized car segment is down just 15% in the first quarter of 2020 to just over 220,000 sales, improving its share of the European car market to 7.3%, up from 6.4% in the first quarter of last year and 6.7% in all of last year. And luxury brands have now officially taken over control of this class, improving their share to 61.5% from 60.2% last year and claiming four of the top-5 positions.
If the Mercedes-Benz C-Class took the overall lead from the Volkswagen Passat in 2019, marking the first time a luxury nameplate tops the charts, in 2020 there’s a change of guards again. The BMW 3-Series storms to the top of the ranking with a 33% gain on last year and improving its share of the segment by 5.7 percentage points to 15,8%. The Volkswagen Passat remains in 2nd place thanks to sales up 12% as a result of its minor facelift and the return of the GTE plug-in hybrid version. The Audi A4 beats the segment with sales down 12% and also moves past the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, down a shocking 41% and losing 4.5 percentage points of share of the class. The Tesla Model 3 is up 13% in 5th place, distancing the Skoda Superb which loses 16%. The Volvo S60/V60 and Peugeot 508 both improve their sales in Q1 of 2019, which for the 508 means a third place among mainstream brands, ahead of the Opel/Vauxhall Insignia (-57%) and Ford Mondeo (-36%).
The Audi A5 loses 40% but still distances itself from the BMW 4-Series down 54%. The Volkswagen Arteon gains 34% to rebound from a dip in 2019, while the Toyota Camry hybrid takes a 1.2% share of the segment to land above the Kia Optima. The Mazda6 is the big loser of the segment with a loss of 72% to fall between the Jaguar XE and Alfa Romeo Giulia, while the Renault Talisman is down 58% to behind those three nameplates.
| Midsized segment | 2020-Q1 | 2019-Q1 | Change | 2020 share | 2019 share | |
| 1 | BMW 3-series | 34.928 | 26.165 | 33% | 15,8% | 10,1% |
| 2 | Volkswagen Passat | 32.196 | 28.824 | 12% | 14,6% | 11,1% |
| 3 | Audi A4 / S4 / RS4 | 24.217 | 27.465 | -12% | 11,0% | 10,6% |
| 4 | Mercedes-Benz C-Class | 22.898 | 38.629 | -41% | 10,4% | 14,9% |
| 5 | Tesla Model 3 | 20.512 | 18.204 | 13% | 9,3% | 7,0% |
| 6 | Skoda Superb | 15.303 | 18.290 | -16% | 6,9% | 7,0% |
| 7 | Volvo S60/V60 | 16.309 | 15.465 | 5% | 7,4% | 6,0% |
| 8 | Peugeot 508 | 8.562 | 8.003 | 7% | 3,9% | 3,1% |
| 9 | Audi A5 / S5 / RS5 | 7.088 | 11.763 | -40% | 3,2% | 4,5% |
| 10 | Opel/Vauxhall Insignia | 6.763 | 15.548 | -57% | 3,1% | 6,0% |
| 11 | Ford Mondeo | 6.712 | 10.522 | -36% | 3,0% | 4,1% |
| 12 | BMW 4-series | 5.286 | 11.466 | -54% | 2,4% | 4,4% |
| 13 | Volkswagen Arteon | 4.927 | 3.671 | 34% | 2,2% | 1,4% |
| 14 | Toyota Camry | 2.581 | 6 | +++ | 1,2% | 0,0% |
| 15 | Kia Optima | 2.563 | 3.264 | -21% | 1,2% | 1,3% |
| 16 | Jaguar XE | 1.882 | 2.664 | -29% | 0,9% | 1,0% |
| 17 | Mazda6 | 1.872 | 6.702 | -72% | 0,8% | 2,6% |
| 18 | Alfa Romeo Giulia | 1.827 | 2.911 | -37% | 0,8% | 1,1% |
| 19 | Renault Talisman | 1.807 | 4.286 | -58% | 0,8% | 1,7% |
| 20 | Subaru Legacy / Outback | 753 | 1.311 | -43% | 0,3% | 0,5% |
| 21 | Lexus IS | 523 | 1.008 | -48% | 0,2% | 0,4% |
| 22 | Kia Stinger | 472 | 1.125 | -58% | 0,2% | 0,4% |
| 23 | Hyundai i40 | 206 | 879 | -77% | 0,1% | 0,3% |
| 24 | Lexus RC | 171 | 316 | -46% | 0,1% | 0,1% |
| 25 | Subaru Levorg | 134 | 254 | -47% | 0,1% | 0,1% |
| 26 | Infiniti Q50 | 63 | 178 | -65% | 0,0% | 0,1% |
| 27 | Infiniti Q60 | 1 | 35 | -97% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 28 | Toyota Avensis | 0 | 588 | -100% | 0,0% | 0,2% |
| Segment total | 220.556 | 259.668 | -15% |
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.