The large cars segment in Europe is down 32% in 2020, to just over 246,000 deliveries. This means the segment loses ground on the overall market again and now accounts for just 2.1% of the total European car market, down from 2.3% in 2019. With the exception of a newcomer, the entire top-8, which accounts for nearly 91% of the segment’s sales, drops by 29% or more and thus falls behind the overall market. Only one single model in the class manages to keep its decline limited to single digits.
The Mercedes-Benz E-Class maintains its top spot even despite receiving an extensive facelift in the last part of the year. Its nearest rival BMW 5-Series gains 1 percentage point of share as its sales are “just” 33% lower than last year, similar to the #3 Audi A6. The Volvo S90/V90 is a distant best of the rest, and at -42% loses 1 percentage points of share to just over 10%. The all-electric Porsche Taycan lands at #5, selling more than double of its rival Tesla Model S. The Audi A7 improves its share and also moves past the American EV and the Mercedes-Benz CLS. The CLS, together with the Jaguar XF, BMW 6-Series and Maserati Ghibli are the biggest losers of the segment, all losing more than half of their sales of last year. For the XF and still relatively fresh CLS this is more worrying than for the 6-Series as the latter is now down to just the Gran Turismo version as the coupe and Gran Coupe have been replaced by the larger and more expensive 8-Series. The Lexus ES is the best performer of the class at -3% and the only nameplate to be down by just single digits this year, allowing it to gain half a percentage point of market share.
The Polestar 1 arrived in 2020, an exclusive plug-in hybrid 2-door with a limited production of 1,500 units worldwide. In 2021 we expect updates for the Model S (especially its interior and hardware), the XF and the CLS. We might see the arrival of the Lucid Air and some Chinese EV models like the Xpeng P7 and BYD Han. For sure we’ll welcome the Audi e-Tron GT, the sibling to the Porsche Taycan which looks set to outshine the A6 as early as 2022.
| Large car segment | 2020 | 2019 | Change | 2020 share | 2019 share | 2020-Q4 | |
| 1 | Mercedes-Benz E-Class | 70.171 | 107.453 | -35% | 28,5% | 29,6% | 21.752 |
| 2 | BMW 5-series | 59.814 | 89.326 | -33% | 24,3% | 24,6% | 15.454 |
| 3 | Audi A6 / S6 / RS6 / Allroad | 55.737 | 83.012 | -33% | 22,6% | 22,9% | 14.433 |
| 4 | Volvo S90/V90 | 23.578 | 40.315 | -42% | 9,6% | 11,1% | 5.543 |
| 5 | Porsche Taycan | 12.332 | 746 | 1553% | 5,0% | 0,2% | 5.371 |
| 6 | Audi A7 / S7 / RS7 | 5.807 | 8.185 | -29% | 2,4% | 2,3% | 1.361 |
| 7 | Tesla Model S | 5.562 | 8.635 | -36% | 2,3% | 2,4% | 1.608 |
| 8 | Mercedes-Benz CLS | 3.895 | 8.428 | -54% | 1,6% | 2,3% | 804 |
| 9 | Lexus ES | 3.699 | 3.818 | -3% | 1,5% | 1,1% | 920 |
| 10 | Jaguar XF | 2.450 | 5.935 | -59% | 1,0% | 1,6% | 382 |
| 11 | BMW 6-series | 2.060 | 5.362 | -62% | 0,8% | 1,5% | 453 |
| 12 | Maserati Ghibli | 1.006 | 1.723 | -42% | 0,4% | 0,5% | 353 |
| 13 | Polestar 1 | 65 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | 17 |
| 14 | Infiniti Q70 | 4 | 21 | -81% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 0 |
| 15 | Lexus GS | 1 | 163 | -99% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 0 |
| 16 | Hyundai Genesis | 0 | 9 | -100% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 0 |
| Segment total | 246.181 | 363.131 | -32% |
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.