Sales of exotic cars in Europe were down 15% in the first nine months of 2020, to just over 5,100 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 43% decline in deliveries.
Among exotic cars, Ferrari is the big winner so far in 2020, as three out of its four models are the only nameplates in the segment to gain share. The Ferrari 488 is down 15%, as it’s being replaced by the newcomer Ferrari F8 which is up to 4th place year to date. The F8 was #3 in the third quarter, ahead of the 488. The Ferrari 812 Superfast is up 20% on last year and was just 3 sales behind the class leader Bentley Continental GT in Q3. The Continental is down 34% but stays firmly on top of the year-to-date ranking. The Aston Martin DB11 is down into 5th place, followed by the Lamborghini Huracan, Aston Martin DBS Superleggera and the Lamborghini Aventador. The Ferrari GTC4Lusso is down 55% but stays ahead of the Rolls Royce Dawn and Wraith.
2020 Q1-Q3 Exotic car sales Europe
| Exotic car segment | 2020 Q1-Q3 | 2019 Q1-Q3 | Change | 2020 share | 2020-Q3 | |
| 1 | Bentley Continental GT / GTC | 1.142 | 1.728 | -34% | 22,3% | 363 |
| 2 | Ferrari 488 GTB | 974 | 1.144 | -15% | 19,1% | 283 |
| 3 | Ferrari 812 Superfast | 798 | 666 | 20% | 15,6% | 360 |
| 4 | Ferrari F8 | 524 | 0 | New | 10,3% | 335 |
| 5 | Aston Martin DB11 | 436 | 645 | -32% | 8,5% | 157 |
| 6 | Lamborghini Huracan | 381 | 545 | -30% | 7,5% | 138 |
| 7 | Aston Martin DBS Superleggera | 308 | 406 | -24% | 6,0% | 106 |
| 8 | Lamborghini Aventador | 291 | 444 | -34% | 5,7% | 98 |
| 9 | Ferrari GTC4Lusso | 122 | 269 | -55% | 2,4% | 41 |
| 10 | Rolls Royce Dawn | 77 | 106 | -27% | 1,5% | 30 |
| 11 | Rolls Royce Wraith | 56 | 73 | -23% | 1,1% | 27 |
| Segment total | 5.111 | 6.026 | -15% |
Large Sports car segment
Nearly 19,500 large sports cars were sold in Europe in the first nine months of 2020, of which the Porsche 911 has a share of 60% thanks to sales down just 5%. 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 11%. The Mercedes-AMG GT holds on to second place ahead of the Jaguar F-Type completing the podium which has an 85.5% share of the segment. The BMW i8 is down 43% and was outsold in Q3 by the Audi R8 and the Mercedes-Benz SL. The Aston Martin Vantage is the big loser of the class with sales down by almost two thirds but it stays ahead of the Lexus LC, while Maserati has been selling the remaining stock of its sports cars whose production ended late 2019. The Honda NSX sold zero units in Q3.
2020 Q1-Q3 large sports car sales Europe
| Large sports car segment | 2020 Q1-Q3 | 2019 Q1-Q3 | Change | Share | 2020-Q3 | |
| 1 | Porsche 911 | 11.645 | 12.206 | -5% | 60,0% | 4.596 |
| 2 | Mercedes-AMG GT | 2.996 | 4.325 | -31% | 15,4% | 999 |
| 3 | Jaguar F-type | 1.974 | 2.725 | -28% | 10,2% | 783 |
| 4 | Ferrari Portofino | 796 | 893 | -11% | 4,1% | 230 |
| 5 | BMW i8 | 519 | 906 | -43% | 2,7% | 205 |
| 6 | Audi R8 | 483 | 710 | -32% | 2,5% | 233 |
| 7 | Mercedes-Benz SL | 455 | 764 | -40% | 2,3% | 214 |
| 8 | Aston Martin V8/V12 Vantage | 253 | 713 | -65% | 1,3% | 94 |
| 9 | Lexus LC | 174 | 305 | -43% | 0,9% | 87 |
| 10 | Maserati GranTurismo | 67 | 182 | -63% | 0,3% | 41 |
| 11 | Maserati GranCabrio | 54 | 145 | -63% | 0,3% | 17 |
| 12 | Honda NSX | 6 | 35 | -83% | 0,0% | 0 |
| 13 | Ferrari California | 0 | 4 | -100% | 0,0% | 0 |
| Segment total | 19.422 | 23.913 | -19% |
Compact Sports car segment
In contrast with the relatively healthy large sports segment, the small sports car segment is crashing down hard with 44% fewer deliveries in the first nine months of 2020, to about 32,600 units. The still fresh BMW Z4 outperforms the segment and the overall market with sales down 12%, while the Audi TT leapfrogs the Ford Mustang to take back 2nd place, despite a 37% drop in deliveries. The Porsche 718 Boxster/Cayman is the best performer in the class at -4% but it stays in fourth place for now. The 718 was just 134 sales behind the Mustang in Q3, though. The Mazda MX-5 loses almost three thirds of its sales volume, but that figures is beaten by the Alpine A110 at -75% and the Chevrolet Camaro at -94%. The MX-5’s sibling Fiat 124 has been axed and sold just 16 units in Q3. In that light, the Japanese coupes actually perform not that bad, with the Toyota GT86 at -19%, the ancient Nissan 370Z at -40% and the Subaru BRZ at -33%, although they’re all outsold by the new Toyota GR Supra. Even the Lotus Elise does relatively well at -8% but that translates to just over 200 sales in nine months.
2020 Q1-Q3 small sports car sales Europe
| Compact sports car segment | 2020 Q1-Q3 | 2019 Q1-Q3 | Change | 2020 share | 2020-Q3 | |
| 1 | BMW Z4 | 6.943 | 7.934 | -12% | 21,3% | 3.054 |
| 2 | Audi TT | 5.941 | 9.382 | -37% | 18,2% | 2.661 |
| 3 | Ford Mustang | 5.618 | 7.994 | -30% | 17,2% | 2.235 |
| 4 | Porsche 718 Boxster/Cayman | 5.100 | 5.293 | -4% | 15,6% | 2.101 |
| 5 | Mazda MX-5 | 3.805 | 11.104 | -66% | 11,7% | 1.839 |
| 6 | Mercedes-Benz SLC | 1.948 | 3.362 | -42% | 6,0% | 451 |
| 7 | Alpine A110 | 874 | 3.549 | -75% | 2,7% | 329 |
| 8 | Toyota Supra | 728 | 506 | 44% | 2,2% | 326 |
| 9 | Toyota GT86 | 610 | 749 | -19% | 1,9% | 260 |
| 10 | Nissan 370Z | 270 | 448 | -40% | 0,8% | 97 |
| 11 | Subaru BRZ | 251 | 374 | -33% | 0,8% | 120 |
| 12 | Lotus Elise | 204 | 222 | -8% | 0,6% | 106 |
| 13 | Lotus Exige | 149 | 215 | -31% | 0,5% | 82 |
| 14 | Chevrolet Camaro | 90 | 1.626 | -94% | 0,3% | 51 |
| 15 | Fiat 124 Spider | 61 | 4.296 | -99% | 0,2% | 16 |
| 16 | Alfa Romeo 4C | 11 | 196 | -94% | 0,0% | 1 |
| Segment total | 32.603 | 57.250 | -43% |
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.