The large cars segment in Europe is up 13% in the first half of 2021, in an overall market up 26%. When compared to the first six months of 2019, the large car sales are down 37% compared to a 22% drop for the market. This means the segment keeps losing market share and now accounts for just 1.9% of the total European car market, down from 2.1% in the first half of 2020. The top-7 accounts for almost 96% of the segment’s sales and the top-3 accounts for 77.5% of the class, up from 75.7% last year.
If the Audi A6 knocked down the BMW 5-Series into third place in Q1, after the second quarter the A6 moves up one more notch to take back the #1 spot it last held in 2015 (and from 2005 until 2007). The Mercedes-Benz E-Class was in third place in Q2 as its facelifted version was just arriving in showrooms. We expect the E-Class to claim back its top spot by the end of the year to extend its winning streak to 6 years. That would leave the 5-Series potentially in third place for the fifth consecutive year. The Volvo S90/V90 is a distant best of the rest again, and at -16% loses 2.8 percentage point of share to 8.2%. In Q2 the all-electric Porsche Taycan was only 300 sales behind the Swedish duo. The Taycan more than doubles its sales but for now remains in the 5th place it also held in the full-year 2020 ranking. Its rival Tesla Model S is down 88% to just 300 deliveries in the first half. Part of this is internal cannibalization from the smaller and cheaper Model 3, but surely the Taycan is also doing a great job of pulling away buyers. And with the Audi e-Tron GT launched in Q2, the competition will become even fiercer. The Audi A7 is up 10% and is under threat from the Lexus ES (+47%), while the Jaguar XF performes relatively well at -1% considering it started the year with a 33% drop in sales. The Mercedes-Benz CLS (-38%) and BMW 6-Series (-29%) are among the biggest losers of the class, while the Maserati Ghibli makes a surprise rebound, doubling its sales of last year. We welcome the DS9 to the ranking with its first 888 deliveries aready in the top-10, and the Genesis G80 with its first 114 deliveries.
| Large car segment | 2021-H1 | 2020-H1 | Change | 2021 share | 2020 share | |
| 1 | Audi A6 / S6 / RS6 / Allroad | 33.430 | 25.413 | 32% | 27,1% | 23,2% |
| 2 | Mercedes-Benz E-Class | 32.192 | 30.039 | 7% | 26,1% | 27,5% |
| 3 | BMW 5-series | 29.964 | 27.259 | 10% | 24,3% | 24,9% |
| 4 | Volvo S90/V90 | 10.056 | 12.039 | -16% | 8,2% | 11,0% |
| 5 | Porsche Taycan | 6.991 | 3.231 | 116% | 5,7% | 3,0% |
| 6 | Audi A7 / S7 / RS7 | 2.780 | 2.529 | 10% | 2,3% | 2,3% |
| 7 | Lexus ES | 2.574 | 1.754 | 47% | 2,1% | 1,6% |
| 8 | Jaguar XF | 1.217 | 1.225 | -1% | 1,0% | 1,1% |
| 9 | Mercedes-Benz CLS | 1.168 | 1.896 | -38% | 0,9% | 1,7% |
| 10 | DS9 | 888 | 0 | New | 0,7% | 0,0% |
| 11 | BMW 6-series | 735 | 1.041 | -29% | 0,6% | 1,0% |
| 12 | Maserati Ghibli | 729 | 365 | 100% | 0,6% | 0,3% |
| 13 | Tesla Model S | 300 | 2.461 | -88% | 0,2% | 2,3% |
| 14 | Audi e-Tron GT | 122 | 0 | New | 0,1% | 0,0% |
| 15 | Genesis G80 | 114 | 0 | New | 0,1% | 0,0% |
| 15 | Polestar 1 | 31 | 47 | -34% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| Segment total | 123.291 | 109.304 | 13% |
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.