After returning to growth in the first quarter of 2019, the premium large SUV segment in Europe accelerates in the second quarter with a 6% increase in sales, to bring the first half figure up 4% to just under 142.000 sales. As to be expected from a still very fresh model, the BMW X5 holds on to the segment crown and even manages to consolidate its leadership with a 10% gain. That adds 0,8 percentage points to its shareof the segment, which now stands at 14,5%. Its nearest rival is the Range Rover Sport, helped by the PHEV version which has a take rate of 26%. That’s even better than the #3 Volvo XC90 which has a take rate of 24,5% for the T8 Twin Engine version. The XC90 is down 13% in the first half but still outsells the all-new Volkswagen Touareg which more than doubles its sales of last year. The Audi Q8 distances its sibling Audi Q7 for 5th and 6th place, the latter down 39% for the half, with Q2 sales even down by more than half as the Q7 was in 8th place just ahead of its all-electric sibling Audi e-Tron. This is the only luxury segment where the Germans don’t dominate the top of the charts, but just due to their large number of entrants (12 out of 24 nameplates are German), they still control more than half of its sales with a 60,2% share of the segment. BMW is the leader with 17,6% share with its three models, followed by Audi with 17,3% with its three models, and Mercedes-Benz is struggling at just 11,9% for its four models. This is mostly due to the fact that the new generation Mercedes-Benz GLE has only just started deliveries and the nameplate is still down 39% for the first half, but should be able to recover in the second half of the year.
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Photo credit: Motor TrendThe Range Rover is up 6% in 8th place, but the model had a slow second quarter with sales down 6,4% and a #9 spot and as a result Range Rover as a brand is no longer the best selling brand of the class at 15,7% share, but when including Land Rover it is, with 19,4%. The Porsche Cayenne is down 20% in the first half, but sales were stable in Q2, indicating a possible recovery in the second half of the year. The Land Rover Discovery just seems unable to hit the right snare with its target audience and is already down 30% on last year. The Mercedes-Benz G-Class is up 45% thanks to the new generation and is en route to record deliveries for the nameplate. In fact, after just six months, 2019 is already the 3rd best ever sales year for the G-Class in Europe. The Lexus RX just can’t seem to break through in Europe as it has done in the US, and in Q2 it was outsold by the Tesla Model X despite a 30% decline in deliveries for the all-electric SUV. The BMW X6 is down 46% but still ahead of its rival Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe at -26%, while the all-new BMW X7 already outsells its rival Mercedes-Benz GLS.
Later in 2019 BMW will renew the X6 and at Mercedes-Benz the GLS is next now that the GLE has been renewed. Porsche has just launched the Cayenne Coupe and all eyes are on the new generation Land Rover Defender.
Also check out the Premium large SUV segment in the USA, where a lot of fresh metal is also shaking up the segment.
| Premium large SUV segment | 2019-H1 | 2018-H1 | Change | |
| 1 | BMW X5 | 20.557 | 18.641 | 10% |
| 2 | Range Rover Sport | 15.484 | 14.493 | 7% |
| 3 | Volvo XC90 | 14.930 | 17.232 | -13% |
| 4 | Volkswagen Touareg | 12.856 | 5.390 | 139% |
| 5 | Audi Q8 | 9.458 | 0 | New |
| 6 | Audi Q7 | 8.673 | 14.197 | -39% |
| 7 | Mercedes-Benz GLE | 8.268 | 13.509 | -39% |
| 8 | Range Rover | 6.784 | 6.427 | 6% |
| 9 | Audi e-Tron | 6.364 | 0 | New |
| 10 | Porsche Cayenne | 6.111 | 7.686 | -20% |
| 11 | Land Rover Discovery | 5.259 | 7.498 | -30% |
| 12 | Mercedes-Benz G-Class | 4.695 | 3.235 | 45% |
| 13 | Jeep Grand Cherokee | 3.699 | 4.203 | -12% |
| 14 | Lexus RX | 3.686 | 3.667 | 1% |
| 15 | Tesla Model X | 3.667 | 5.238 | -30% |
| 16 | BMW X6 | 2.949 | 5.420 | -46% |
| 17 | Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe | 2.754 | 3.709 | -26% |
| 18 | Maserati Levante | 1.859 | 2.347 | -21% |
| 19 | BMW X7 | 1.486 | 0 | New! |
| 20 | Mercedes-Benz GLS | 1.126 | 1.943 | -42% |
| 21 | Lamborghini Urus | 522 | 37 | 1311% |
| 22 | Bentley Bentayga | 399 | 807 | -51% |
| 23 | Rolls Royce Cullinan | 188 | 0 | New |
| 24 | Infiniti QX70 | 23 | 198 | -88% |
| Segment total | 141.797 | 135.877 | 4% |
Click on any model to see its annual sales from 1997-2018 and monthly sales from 2015 to 2018, or use the dropdown menu in the top right of this site.
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.