After booming last year on the launch of two important new models, the midsized car segment still outgrows the overall market in Q1 of 2016, albeit only slightly at +9% vs. +8,2%. The dominant leader Volkswagen Passat loses a bit of market share, but the VW Group actually increases its stranglehold on the segment from 41,2% in Q1 of 2015 and 44,7% over the full year 2015 to 45,2% last quarter, as the new generation Skoda Superb is the fastest growing model in the top-10. The Superb surges from 5th place to the #2 spot, just ahead of the Ford Mondeo, which continues to improve and finally manages to outsell the Opel/Vauxhall Insignia, but not convincingly so, as the Insignia outsold it in March. Still, the Mondeo should be able to hold on to a podium spot by the end of the year, but it won’t threaten the Passat as much as Ford had hoped it would.
Note: clicking on the model name opens the sales data page for that model; clicking year in the legend turns the display for that year on/off
The Peugeot 508 is down again and is under threat from the facelifted Toyota Avensis, which adds more than a third to its volume and hold the position above the Mazda6 which it had reclaimed by the end of last year, as the best selling Asian model in the segment. The Hyundai i40 has just been facelifted as well, so should recover some of the 15% loss it suffered in Q1, but it will lose a spot to the all-new Renault Talisman, which is still in start-up mode and only available as a sedan, with the station wagon coming up later this year. The Talisman should be able to beat the Insignia and even the Mondeo in the second half of the year with full availability, but finishing fourth over the entire year would be an impressive performance considering the 15.000-unit gap at the moment.
The Citroën C5 will soon join the Honda Accord in the history books, while the Subaru Outback drops out of the top-10 after the regular Legacy has been replaced by the somewhat smaller Levorg. Despite being the fastest growing model in the segment, the Kia Optima remains a niche player, it should get a boost from the Plug-In hybrid version, but so far it’s still stuck at the bottom of the ranking, just above a bunch of discontinued models.
Also check out the midsized car segment in the US, where the leader sells almost 7 times as much as the Passat, and even the Legacy sells better.
| Midsized segment | 2016 Q1 | 2015 Q1 | Change | |
| 1 | Volkswagen Passat | 53.266 | 51.420 | 4% |
| 2 | Skoda Superb | 21.812 | 11.794 | 85% |
| 3 | Ford Mondeo | 21.407 | 18.583 | 15% |
| 4 | Opel/Vauxhall Insignia | 20.507 | 23.701 | -13% |
| 5 | Peugeot 508 | 10.872 | 12.550 | -13% |
| 6 | Toyota Avensis | 10.360 | 7.550 | 37% |
| 7 | Mazda6 | 9.224 | 9.082 | 2% |
| 8 | Hyundai i40 | 5.347 | 6.312 | -15% |
| 9 | Renault Talisman | 4.989 | 0 | New |
| 10 | Citroën C5 | 2.717 | 3.795 | -28% |
| 11 | Subaru Legacy / Outback | 2.129 | 2.403 | -11% |
| 12 | Kia Optima | 1.786 | 955 | 87% |
| 13 | Subaru Levorg | 1.289 | 0 | New |
| 14 | Renault Laguna | 106 | 3.370 | -97% |
| 15 | MG6 | 63 | 276 | -77% |
| 16 | Honda Accord | 30 | 968 | -97% |
| 17 | Opel/Vauxhall Ampera | 13 | 89 | -85% |
| 18 | Seat Exeo | 2 | 6 | -67% |
| 19 | Chevrolet Malibu | 1 | 2 | -50% |
| Segment total | 165.920 | 152.921 | 9% |