In 2021, 4% more exotic cars were delivered to customers in in Europe, beating the overall market which is down 2%. The large sports car segment trails the overall market with a 5% decline, while the compact sports car segment also continues to lose share with a 13% drop in deliveries.
Among exotic cars, Ferrari continues where it left off in 2020, with three of the top-4 nameplates. The Italian brand has even reclaimed the top spot with the F8 tripling its sales in its first full year of deliveries for a 30% share of the class. That leaves last year’s leader Bentley Continental in second place with sales down 17%. The Ferrari F12 Superfast is down 16% and holds on to third place, just ahead of the SF90 Stradale. The Lamborghini Huracan is up 15% on 2020 and moves ahead of the Aston Martin DB11, down 39%. A 57% jump in deliveries allows the McLaren 700 Series to leapfrog the Lamborghini Aventador and Aston Martin DBS Superleggera which both lose by double digits. The Ferrari Monza is up 43%, the McLaren GT is up 36% and outsells the McLaren 500/600 Series which is down by almost two thirds.
2021 – Exotic car sales Europe
| Exotic car segment | 2021 | 2020 | Change | 2021 share | 2020 share | 2021-Q4 | 2020-Q4 | Change | |
| 1 | Ferrari F8 | 2.265 | 747 | 203% | 30,0% | 10,3% | 284 | 223 | 27% |
| 2 | Bentley Continental GT / GTC | 1.207 | 1.462 | -17% | 16,0% | 20,2% | 312 | 320 | -3% |
| 3 | Ferrari 812 Superfast | 822 | 975 | -16% | 10,9% | 13,5% | 129 | 177 | -27% |
| 4 | Ferrari SF90 Stradale | 643 | 34 | 1791% | 8,5% | 0,5% | 119 | 34 | 250% |
| 5 | Lamborghini Huracan | 585 | 507 | 15% | 7,7% | 7,0% | 110 | 126 | -13% |
| 6 | Aston Martin DB11 | 334 | 545 | -39% | 4,4% | 7,5% | 68 | 109 | -38% |
| 7 | McLaren 700 Series | 317 | 202 | 57% | 4,2% | 2,8% | 51 | 28 | 82% |
| 8 | Lamborghini Aventador | 292 | 357 | -18% | 3,9% | 4,9% | 40 | 66 | -39% |
| 9 | Aston Martin DBS Superleggera | 286 | 366 | -22% | 3,8% | 5,1% | 62 | 58 | 7% |
| 10 | Ferrari Monza | 206 | 144 | 43% | 2,7% | 2,0% | 58 | 48 | 21% |
| 11 | Ferrari 488 GTB | 152 | 1.207 | -87% | 2,0% | 16,7% | 10 | 233 | -96% |
| 12 | McLaren GT | 137 | 101 | 36% | 1,8% | 1,4% | 25 | 6 | 317% |
| 13 | McLaren 500/600 Series | 101 | 295 | -66% | 1,3% | 4,1% | 9 | 38 | -76% |
| 14 | Rolls Royce Wraith | 59 | 71 | -17% | 0,8% | 1,0% | 6 | 15 | -60% |
| 15 | Rolls Royce Dawn | 58 | 86 | -33% | 0,8% | 1,2% | 6 | 9 | -33% |
| 16 | Ford GT | 47 | – | – | 0,6% | – | 3 | – | – |
| 17 | Ferrari GTC4Lusso | 42 | 142 | -70% | 0,6% | 2,0% | 6 | 20 | -70% |
| Segment total | 7.553 | 7.243 | 4% | 1.298 | 1.510 | -14% |
Large Sports car segment
The large sports car segment only barely trails the overall market in 2021 with sales down 5%. The Porsche 911 is up 2% and improves its share of the class to 65.3%, up from 60.4% in 2020. It sells over six times as much as its nearest rival Jaguar F-Type, which is down 13% despite a facelift. That puts the F-Type ahead of the Mercedes-AMG GT, down 38% into third place. The roadster version of the GT will be renamed Mercedes-Benz SL as the next generation of the long-standing nameplate will arrive in 2022. The outgoing Mercedes-Benz SL is down 83% into 12th place. In fourth place we find the newcomer Ferrari Roma, ahead of the Audi R8, down 11%. The Aston Martin V8/V12 Vantage is up 80% and closing in on the R8. With a 42% improvement thanks to the addition of the roadster version, the Lexus LC moves into 7th place ahead of the Ferrari Portofino which suffers from internal rivalry from the Roma. The new generation Corvette is up to 9th pace, ahead of the Nissan GT-R, while the all-new Maserati MC-20 lands at #11.
2021 – large sports car sales EuropeCompact Sports car segment
| Large sports car segment | 2021 | 2020 | Change | 2021 share | 2020 share | 2021-Q4 | 2020-Q4 | Change | |
| 1 | Porsche 911 | 15.705 | 15.340 | 2% | 65,3% | 60,4% | 3.752 | 3.695 | 2% |
| 2 | Jaguar F-type | 2.363 | 2.713 | -13% | 9,8% | 10,7% | 307 | 739 | -58% |
| 3 | Mercedes-AMG GT | 2.266 | 3.640 | -38% | 9,4% | 14,3% | 448 | 644 | -30% |
| 4 | Ferrari Roma | 1.057 | 44 | 2302% | 4,4% | 0,2% | 241 | 21 | 1048% |
| 5 | Audi R8 | 666 | 747 | -11% | 2,8% | 2,9% | 135 | 264 | -49% |
| 6 | Aston Martin V8/V12 Vantage | 632 | 352 | 80% | 2,6% | 1,4% | 125 | 99 | 26% |
| 7 | Lexus LC | 369 | 260 | 42% | 1,5% | 1,0% | 32 | 86 | -63% |
| 8 | Ferrari Portofino | 271 | 932 | -71% | 1,1% | 3,7% | 84 | 136 | -38% |
| 9 | Corvette | 265 | 5 | 5200% | 1,1% | 0,0% | 180 | 1 | 17900% |
| 10 | Nissan GT-R | 196 | 260 | -25% | 0,8% | 1,0% | 13 | 28 | -54% |
| 11 | Maserati MC20 | 115 | 0 | New | 0,5% | 0,0% | 86 | 0 | New |
| 12 | Mercedes-Benz SL | 84 | 505 | -83% | 0,3% | 2,0% | 25 | 50 | -50% |
| 13 | BMW i8 | 46 | 592 | -92% | 0,2% | 2,3% | 2 | 73 | -97% |
| 14 | Honda NSX | 3 | 8 | -63% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 2 | 2 | 0% |
| Segment total | 24.038 | 25.398 | -5% | 5.432 | 5.838 | -7% |
In contrast with the relatively healthy large sports car segment and the exotic car segment, the small sports car segment continues to lose share of the market with 13% fewer deliveries than in 2020, not recovering from a 42% drop last year. The loss of the Mercedes-Benz SLC as well as poor performances by the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger are to blame for this decline. The BMW Z4 holds on to its top spot and outperforms the segment with sales down 9%, while the 2019 leader Mazda MX-5 strongly recovers from a poor performance in 2020 with sales up 42%, as it moves back up into second place. The Porsche 718 loses 0.3 percentage points of share with sales down 15% and closes in on a podium place and even outsold the Audi TT in the first half of the year. Big losers in the class are the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger, both down 48% while their rival Chevrolet Camaro almost doubles its sales. Still, the Camaro is the slowest seller of the American muscle cars. After a poor 2020 performance, the Alpine A110 recovers strongly with sales up 81%, even though it’s still well below its peak year. The Toyota Supra has its best year so far in Europe with nearly 1,000 deliveries. The Lotus Elise and Exige are up by single digits in their final full year of sales. Just before new generations arrive, the outgoing Subaru BRZ and Toyota GT86 are struggling.
2021 – small sports car sales Europe
| Compact sports car segment | 2021 | 2020 | Change | 2021 share | 2020 share | 2021-Q4 | 2020-Q4 | Change | |
| 1 | BMW Z4 | 7.571 | 8.314 | -9% | 21,9% | 20,8% | 884 | 1.371 | -36% |
| 2 | Mazda MX-5 | 6.861 | 4.815 | 42% | 19,8% | 12,1% | 699 | 1.010 | -31% |
| 3 | Audi TT | 5.812 | 7.525 | -23% | 16,8% | 18,9% | 1.228 | 1.584 | -22% |
| 4 | Porsche 718 Boxster/Cayman | 5.667 | 6.663 | -15% | 16,4% | 16,7% | 1.172 | 1.563 | -25% |
| 5 | Ford Mustang | 3.865 | 7.495 | -48% | 11,2% | 18,8% | 1.012 | 1.877 | -46% |
| 6 | Alpine A110 | 2.427 | 1.343 | 81% | 7,0% | 3,4% | 905 | 469 | 93% |
| 7 | Toyota Supra | 966 | 947 | 2% | 2,8% | 2,4% | 119 | 219 | -46% |
| 8 | Dodge Challenger | 387 | 744 | -48% | 1,6% | 2,9% | 83 | 197 | -58% |
| 9 | Lotus Elise | 321 | 303 | 6% | 0,9% | 0,8% | 63 | 99 | -36% |
| 10 | Lotus Exige | 273 | 250 | 9% | 0,8% | 0,6% | 75 | 101 | -26% |
| 11 | Chevrolet Camaro | 241 | 121 | 99% | 0,7% | 0,3% | 40 | 31 | 29% |
| 12 | Subaru BRZ | 160 | 323 | -50% | 0,5% | 0,8% | 24 | 72 | -67% |
| 13 | Lotus Evora | 40 | 44 | -9% | 0,1% | 0,1% | 6 | 13 | -54% |
| 14 | Toyota GT86 | 27 | 671 | -96% | 0,1% | 1,7% | 1 | 61 | -98% |
| 15 | Nissan 370Z | 18 | 324 | -94% | 0,1% | 0,8% | 0 | 54 | -100% |
| Segment total | 34.636 | 39.882 | -13% | 6.311 | 8.721 | -28% |
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.