The large cars segment in Europe is down 14% in 2021, in an overall market down 2%. This means the segment keeps losing market share and now accounts for just 1.8% of the total European car market, down from 2.1% in 2020. This is the lowest annual sales of large cars in Europe ever and down to almost half of the 2017 volume. In 2018, comined sales of just the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and the BMW 5-Series topped 226,500 while in 2021 the entire class of 18 nameplates adds up to just over 212,500 deliveries. The top-8 accounts for almost 96% of the segment’s sales and the top-3 accounts for over three quarters of the class. In Q4 of 2021, large car sales were down 36% in a market down 24%.
If in the first half of the year the Audi A6 reclaimed the #1 spot it last held in 2015 (and from 2005 until 2007), by year end it was back into third place where it’s been since 2017. The Mercedes-Benz E-Class stays on top of the ranking despite losing a quarter of its sales. Just 700 sales separate it from the BMW 5-Series, down 11%. The Volvo S90/V90 is a distant best of the rest again, and at -29% loses 18 percentage points of share to 7.8% and the Porsche Taycan is just 400 sales behind in fifth place with sales up 32%. The Taycan’s sibling model Audi e-Tron GT lands at #6, just ahead of the Lexus ES which improves 20% to make 2021 its best year since its launch in Europe. At 2.1% share of the class, it remains a niche player though. At least the ES outsells cars like the Audi A7 (-27%) and Mercedes-Benz CLS (-45%) which had a difficult year. We welcome the DS9 into the top-10, immediately outselling the Jaguar XF in its first year. The Maserati Ghibli is up 43% on 2020, but that was such a terrible year for the nameplate that 2021 is still its second worst year since its relaunch in 2013. The BMW 6-Series is down by 40% and the Tesla Model S loses 92% of its sales in Europe. We welcome the Genesis G80 with its first 106 sales and the Xpeng P7 with its first 40 registrations.
| Large car segment | 2021 | 2020 | Change | 2021 share | 2020 share | 2021-Q4 | 2020-Q4 | Change | |
| 1 | Mercedes-Benz E-Class | 53.654 | 70.171 | -24% | 25,2% | 28,5% | 12.130 | 21.752 | -44% |
| 2 | BMW 5-series | 52.936 | 59.814 | -11% | 24,9% | 24,3% | 11.269 | 15.454 | -27% |
| 3 | Audi A6 / S6 / RS6 / Allroad | 50.238 | 55.737 | -10% | 23,6% | 22,6% | 5.853 | 14.433 | -59% |
| 4 | Volvo S90/V90 | 16.645 | 23.578 | -29% | 7,8% | 9,6% | 3.781 | 5.543 | -32% |
| 5 | Porsche Taycan | 16.250 | 12.332 | 32% | 7,6% | 5,0% | 5.955 | 5.371 | 11% |
| 6 | Audi e-Tron GT | 4.927 | 0 | New | 2,3% | 0,0% | 1.649 | 0 | New |
| 7 | Lexus ES | 4.440 | 3.699 | 20% | 2,1% | 1,5% | 747 | 920 | -19% |
| 8 | Audi A7 / S7 / RS7 | 4.260 | 5.807 | -27% | 2,0% | 2,4% | 357 | 1.361 | -74% |
| 9 | Mercedes-Benz CLS | 2.155 | 3.895 | -45% | 1,0% | 1,6% | 610 | 804 | -24% |
| 10 | DS9 | 1.778 | 0 | New | 0,8% | 0,0% | 576 | 0 | New |
| 11 | Jaguar XF | 1.776 | 2.450 | -28% | 0,8% | 1,0% | 200 | 382 | -48% |
| 12 | Maserati Ghibli | 1.434 | 1.006 | 43% | 0,7% | 0,4% | 341 | 353 | -3% |
| 13 | BMW 6-series | 1.231 | 2.060 | -40% | 0,6% | 0,8% | 221 | 453 | -51% |
| 14 | Tesla Model S | 456 | 5.562 | -92% | 0,2% | 2,3% | 5 | 1.608 | -100% |
| 15 | Dodge Charger | 191 | 119 | 61% | 0,1% | 0,0% | 35 | 55 | -36% |
| 16 | Genesis G80 | 106 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | 19 | 0 | New |
| 17 | Polestar 1 | 61 | 75 | -19% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 10 | 17 | -41% |
| 18 | Xpeng P7 | 40 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | 40 | 0 | New |
| Segment total | 212.578 | 246.310 | -14% | 43.798 | 68.506 | -36% |
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.