The large car segment in Europe sees 35% fewer sales in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same period last year, which was already a new record low year. 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 2.5% in Q1 of 2019 and 2.3% for the full year 2019.
The Mercedes-Benz E-Class maintains its top spot and keeps its share of the segment pretty much stable despite an upcoming major facelift for the model. Its nearest rival BMW 5-Series gains 3.6 percentage points of share as its sales are “just” 26% lower than last year, allowing it to distance the Audi A6, down 37%. The Volvo S90/V90 is a distant best of the rest, but also the biggest loser in the top-6 at -39%. The Audi A7 keeps its share stable but the gap behind to the Tesla Model S is shrinking as the electric sedan is down just 11%, moving past the Mercedes-Benz CLS, Jaguar XF and BMW 6-Series, the three biggest losers of the segment, all losing more than 63% 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than for the 6-Series as the latter is now down to just the Gran Turismo version as the coupe and Gran Coupe have been replaced by the larger and more expensive 8-Series.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 also passes the XF and 6-Series thanks to being the best performer of the class and the only nameplate to sell more in Q1 of 2020 than in the same period last year.
We welcome the Polestar 1 to the ranking with the first 19 registrations for the Swedish plug-in hybrid coupe.
| Large car segment | 2020-Q1 | 2019-Q1 | Change | 2020 share | 2019 share | |
| 1 | Mercedes-Benz E-Class | 18.690 | 29.109 | -36% | 28,8% | 28,9% |
| 2 | BMW 5-series | 17.705 | 23.798 | -26% | 27,2% | 23,6% |
| 3 | Audi A6 / S6 / RS6 / Allroad | 14.904 | 23.678 | -37% | 22,9% | 23,5% |
| 4 | Volvo S90/V90 | 6.604 | 10.822 | -39% | 10,2% | 10,7% |
| 5 | Audi A7 / S7 / RS7 | 1.625 | 2.476 | -34% | 2,5% | 2,5% |
| 6 | Tesla Model S | 1.396 | 1.576 | -11% | 2,1% | 1,6% |
| 7 | Mercedes-Benz CLS | 1.151 | 3.075 | -63% | 1,8% | 3,1% |
| 8 | Lexus ES | 1.109 | 996 | 11% | 1,7% | 1,0% |
| 9 | Jaguar XF | 900 | 2.757 | -67% | 1,4% | 2,7% |
| 10 | BMW 6-series | 660 | 1.850 | -64% | 1,0% | 1,8% |
| 11 | Maserati Ghibli | 216 | 479 | -55% | 0,3% | 0,5% |
| 12 | Polestar 1 | 19 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 13 | Infiniti Q70 | 3 | 9 | -67% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 14 | Lexus GS | 1 | 94 | -99% | 0,0% | 0,1% |
| Segment total | 64.983 | 100.725 | -35% |
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.