Sales of limousines and upper class vehicles in Europe were down 13% to just over 9,000 units in the first quarter of 2020, half the decline of the overall market but their share is stable at 0.3% of the total European car market.
And the big news is a change at the top of the ranking, where the traditional leader Mercedes-Benz S-Class is toppled not by just one, but by two BMW’s. The S-Class sees its sales decline by 50% as an all-new generation is planned to arrive later this year. In contrast, the BMW 8-Series manages to add 55% to its sales thanks to the addition of the Gran Coupe four-door version, claiming the top spot of the class, followed by its sibling BMW 7-Series which is down 18%. As a result, BMW’s share of the segment jumps from 34.3% to a commanding 43.4% while Mercedes-Benz loses 13.2 percentage points of share. Behind the S-Class, newcomer Porsche Taycan lands in 4th place with 13.2% share, not a bad start for the all-electric sports sedan, which beats its stablemates Audi A8 (-32%) and Porsche Panamera (-43%). The Bentley Flying Spur has also been renewed and scores 109 deliveries compared to last year’s six, but its upper-upper class sibling Mulsanne is down 64% as it’s been revealed that it won’t be replaced after this generation. As a result, VW Group’s share of the upper class segment goes from 30.6% in Q1 of 2019 to 36.3%, second after BMW but way ahead of Daimler’s 18.2%.
Jaguar will replace the XJ with an all-electric version later this year, and the current version is in runout mode with sales cut in half. That’s still a better performance than the Maserati Quattroporte, down 54%, and the Lexus LS, down 72%. The Rolls Royce Ghost is down by 7 sales or almost a quarter, while the Phantom is down 2 sales or 13%. The Aston Martin Rapide also loses more than half of its already low sales tally.
| Upper class | 2020-Q1 | 2019-Q1 | Change | 2020 share | 2019 share | |
| 1 | BMW 8-series | 2.103 | 1.356 | 55% | 23,3% | 13,0% |
| 2 | BMW 7-series | 1.824 | 2.211 | -18% | 20,2% | 21,3% |
| 3 | Mercedes-Benz S-Class | 1.649 | 3.269 | -50% | 18,2% | 31,4% |
| 4 | Porsche Taycan | 1.195 | 0 | New | 13,2% | 0,0% |
| 5 | Audi A8 / S8 | 1.053 | 1.539 | -32% | 11,6% | 14,8% |
| 6 | Porsche Panamera | 907 | 1.582 | -43% | 10,0% | 15,2% |
| 7 | Bentley Flying Spur | 109 | 6 | +++ | 1,2% | 0,1% |
| 8 | Jaguar XJ | 78 | 154 | -49% | 0,9% | 1,5% |
| 9 | Maserati Quattroporte | 31 | 67 | -54% | 0,3% | 0,6% |
| 10 | Lexus LS | 24 | 86 | -72% | 0,3% | 0,8% |
| 11 | Rolls Royce Ghost | 22 | 29 | -24% | 0,2% | 0,3% |
| 12 | Bentley Mulsanne | 18 | 50 | -64% | 0,2% | 0,5% |
| 13 | Aston Martin Rapide | 16 | 34 | -53% | 0,2% | 0,3% |
| 14 | Rolls Royce Phantom | 13 | 15 | -13% | 0,1% | 0,1% |
| Segment total | 9.042 | 10.398 | -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.