Sales of exotic cars in Europe were down 13% in 2020, to just under 6,500 units. The large sports car segment also beats the overall market with a 19% decline, while the small sports car segment continues to lose share with a 42% decline in deliveries.
Among exotic cars, Ferrari is the big winner in 2020, as three out of its four models are the only nameplates in the segment to gain share and all three are in the top-4 of the class. The Ferrari 488 is down 10%, as it’s being replaced by the newcomer Ferrari F8 which is up to 4th place. The Ferrari 812 Superfast is up 20% on last year and gains more than four percentage points of share. The Bentley Continental GT loses almost a third of its sales and over six percentage points of share, but manages to stay on op of the ranking. The Aston Martin DB11 is down into 5th place with sales down 36%, followed by the Lamborghini Huracan, down 16%, Aston Martin DBS Superleggera, down 25% and the Lamborghini Aventador, down 34%. The Ferrari GTC4Lusso is down 54% but stays ahead of the Rolls Royce Dawn and Wraith. The Ferrari SF90 Stradale lands with its first 8 deliveries in the last quarter.
2020 Exotic car sales Europe
| Exotic car segment | 2020 | 2019 | Change | 2020 share | 2019 share | 2020-Q4 | |
| 1 | Bentley Continental GT / GTC | 1.462 | 2.142 | -32% | 22,6% | 28,9% | 320 |
| 2 | Ferrari 488 GTB | 1.207 | 1.340 | -10% | 18,6% | 18,1% | 233 |
| 3 | Ferrari 812 Superfast | 975 | 814 | 20% | 15,1% | 11,0% | 177 |
| 4 | Ferrari F8 | 747 | 41 | 1722% | 11,5% | 0,6% | 223 |
| 5 | Aston Martin DB11 | 545 | 855 | -36% | 8,4% | 11,5% | 109 |
| 6 | Lamborghini Huracan | 507 | 607 | -16% | 7,8% | 8,2% | 126 |
| 7 | Aston Martin DBS Superleggera | 366 | 488 | -25% | 5,7% | 6,6% | 58 |
| 8 | Lamborghini Aventador | 357 | 539 | -34% | 5,5% | 7,3% | 66 |
| 9 | Ferrari GTC4Lusso | 142 | 310 | -54% | 2,2% | 4,2% | 20 |
| 10 | Rolls Royce Dawn | 86 | 120 | -28% | 1,3% | 1,6% | 9 |
| 11 | Rolls Royce Wraith | 71 | 102 | -30% | 1,1% | 1,4% | 15 |
| 12 | Ferrari SF90 Stradale | 8 | 0 | New | 0,1% | 0,0% | 8 |
| Segment total | 6.475 | 7.414 | -13% |
Large Sports car segment
Just over 25,000 large sports cars were sold in Europe in 2020, of which the Porsche 911 has a share of more than 60% thanks to sales down just 6%. That makes the 911 also the best performing model in the entire segment as all other nameplates are down by double digits. Next best performer is the Ferrari Portofino in fourth place with sales down 13%. The Mercedes-AMG GT holds on to second place ahead of the Jaguar F-Type completing the podium. Those three are the only nampelates above 10% share, adding up to 81.2% as all other models have less than 4% share. The BMW i8 is down 45% and was outsold by the Audi R8, down 21%. The Mercedes-Benz SL also lost 43%, but the Aston Martin Vantage is the big loser of the class with sales down by almost two thirds. It does stays ahead of the Lexus LC, while Maserati has been selling the remaining stock of its sports cars whose production ended late 2019. We welcome the Ferrari Roma, as the coupe version of the Portofino. The Honda NSX sold just 2 units in the second half of the year.
2020 large sports car sales EuropeCompact Sports car segment
| Large sports car segment | 2020 | 2019 | Change | 2020 share | 2019 share | 2020-Q4 | |
| 1 | Porsche 911 | 15.340 | 16.384 | -6% | 60,6% | 52,6% | 3.695 |
| 2 | Mercedes-AMG GT | 3.640 | 5.644 | -36% | 14,4% | 18,1% | 644 |
| 3 | Jaguar F-type | 2.713 | 3.252 | -17% | 10,7% | 10,4% | 739 |
| 4 | Ferrari Portofino | 991 | 1.135 | -13% | 3,9% | 3,6% | 195 |
| 5 | Audi R8 | 747 | 949 | -21% | 3,0% | 3,0% | 264 |
| 6 | BMW i8 | 592 | 1.077 | -45% | 2,3% | 3,5% | 73 |
| 7 | Mercedes-Benz SL | 505 | 885 | -43% | 2,0% | 2,8% | 50 |
| 8 | Aston Martin V8/V12 Vantage | 352 | 1.029 | -66% | 1,4% | 3,3% | 99 |
| 9 | Lexus LC | 260 | 361 | -28% | 1,0% | 1,2% | 86 |
| 10 | Maserati GranTurismo | 71 | 230 | -69% | 0,3% | 0,7% | 4 |
| 11 | Maserati GranCabrio | 55 | 164 | -66% | 0,2% | 0,5% | 1 |
| 12 | Ferrari Roma | 44 | 0 | New | 0,2% | 0,0% | 21 |
| 13 | Honda NSX | 8 | 36 | -78% | 0,0% | 0,1% | 2 |
| Segment total | 25.318 | 31.150 | -19% |
In contrast with the relatively healthy large sports segment, the small sports car segment is crashing down hard with 42% fewer deliveries in 2020, to about 40,300 units. The still fresh BMW Z4 outperforms the segment and the overall market with sales down 14%, while last year’s leader Mazda MX-5 loses almost two thirds of its sales to drop to 5th place. The Audi TT holds on to second place ahead of the Ford Mustang, while the Porsche 718 is one of the best performing nameplates in the class at -10%. In its last full year of sales, the Mercedes-Benz SLC is down by almost half, but the worst performer in the class is the Alpine A110, down 69%. The Japanese sports coupes Toyota GT86, Nissan 370Z and Subaru BRZ all sold fewer than 25 cars per month in the last quarter. Even Lotus did better with both of its models. Speaking of Lotus, there’s some life in the brand again, and it is finally working on a new model range due in a couple of years.
2020 small sports car sales Europe
| Compact sports car segment | 2020 | 2019 | Change | 2020 share | 2019 share | 2020-Q4 | |
| 1 | BMW Z4 | 8.314 | 9.681 | -14% | 20,6% | 13,9% | 1.371 |
| 2 | Audi TT | 7.525 | 11.079 | -32% | 18,7% | 15,9% | 1.584 |
| 3 | Ford Mustang | 7.495 | 10.071 | -26% | 18,6% | 14,4% | 1.877 |
| 4 | Porsche 718 Boxster/Cayman | 6.663 | 7.406 | -10% | 16,5% | 10,6% | 1.563 |
| 5 | Mazda MX-5 | 4.815 | 13.803 | -65% | 12,0% | 19,8% | 1.010 |
| 6 | Mercedes-Benz SLC | 2.054 | 3.985 | -48% | 5,1% | 5,7% | 106 |
| 7 | Alpine A110 | 1.343 | 4.376 | -69% | 3,3% | 6,3% | 469 |
| 8 | Toyota GT86 | 671 | 920 | -27% | 1,7% | 1,3% | 61 |
| 9 | Nissan 370Z | 324 | 562 | -42% | 0,8% | 0,8% | 54 |
| 10 | Subaru BRZ | 323 | 522 | -38% | 0,8% | 0,7% | 72 |
| 11 | Lotus Elise | 303 | 271 | 12% | 0,8% | 0,4% | 99 |
| 12 | Lotus Exige | 250 | 290 | -14% | 0,6% | 0,4% | 101 |
| 13 | Chevrolet Camaro | 121 | 1.710 | -93% | 0,3% | 2,5% | 31 |
| 14 | Fiat 124 Spider | 76 | 4.717 | -98% | 0,2% | 6,8% | 15 |
| 15 | Alfa Romeo 4C | 11 | 201 | -95% | 0,0% | 0,3% | 0 |
| Segment total | 40.288 | 69.697 | -42% |
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.