European sales of large cars were down 38% in the first half of 2020, to just over 170,000 deliveries. This means the segment loses ground on the overall market again and now accounts for just 2% of the total European car market, down from 2.3% in the first nine months of 2019. The entire top-7, which accounts for nearly 96% of the segment’s sales, drops by 30% or more and thus falls behind the overall market. Only one single model manages to keep its decline limited to single digits.
The Mercedes-Benz E-Class maintains its top spot despite an upcoming major facelift, although its rivals are closing in as the E-Class is down 40% for the year. It was still the leader in Q3, though. Its nearest rival BMW 5-Series gains 2 percentage points of share as its sales are “just” 33% lower than last year, making it one of the best performing models in the class so far this year. The 5-Series distances the Audi A6 in Q3 which is losing its chance of reclaiming the segment top spot it last held in 2015. The Volvo S90/V90 is a distant best of the rest, and at -40% loses just 0.2 percentage points of share. The Audi A7 improves its share and distances the Tesla Model S which was closing in after Q2. The Mercedes-Benz CLS, 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than for the 6-Series as the latter is now down to just the Gran Turismo version as the coupe and Gran Coupe have been replaced by the larger and more expensive 8-Series.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 and the only nameplate to be down by just single digits this year.
| Large car segment | 2020 Q1-Q3 | 2019 Q1-Q3 | Change | 2020 share | 2020-Q3 | |
| 1 | Mercedes-Benz E-Class | 48.419 | 81.209 | -40% | 28,4% | 18.380 |
| 2 | BMW 5-series | 44.360 | 66.375 | -33% | 26,0% | 17.101 |
| 3 | Audi A6 / S6 / RS6 / Allroad | 41.304 | 64.674 | -36% | 24,2% | 15.891 |
| 4 | Volvo S90/V90 | 18.035 | 29.923 | -40% | 10,6% | 5.996 |
| 5 | Audi A7 / S7 / RS7 | 4.446 | 6.365 | -30% | 2,6% | 1.917 |
| 6 | Tesla Model S | 3.954 | 6.604 | -40% | 2,3% | 1.493 |
| 7 | Mercedes-Benz CLS | 3.091 | 6.890 | -55% | 1,8% | 1.195 |
| 8 | Lexus ES | 2.779 | 2.994 | -7% | 1,6% | 1.025 |
| 9 | Jaguar XF | 2.068 | 5.140 | -60% | 1,2% | 843 |
| 10 | BMW 6-series | 1.607 | 4.464 | -64% | 0,9% | 566 |
| 11 | Maserati Ghibli | 653 | 1.405 | -54% | 0,4% | 288 |
| 12 | Polestar 1 | 48 | 0 | #DIV/0! | 0,0% | 11 |
| 13 | Infiniti Q70 | 4 | 17 | -76% | 0,0% | 0 |
| 14 | Lexus GS | 1 | 137 | -99% | 0,0% | 0 |
| 15 | Hyundai Genesis | 0 | 9 | -100% | 0,0% | 0 |
| Segment total | 170.769 | 276.206 | -38% |
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.