Sales of exotic cars in Europe were down 14% in the first quarter of 2020, to just under 1,800 units. In 2019, the Bentley Continental GT reclaimed the segment crown thanks to the new generation, and it maintains that position so far in 2020, despite a 14% drop in deliveries vs. a 16% gain for its nearest rival Ferrari 488. The Ferrari 812 Superfast makes it two Italians on the podium, knocking down the Aston Martin DB11 which is down 22%. The Lamborghini Huracan, Aston Martin DBS Superleggera and Lamborghini Aventador do even worse than that, with increasing rates of decline. Newcomer Ferrari F8 Tributo lands at 8th place, ahead of the Ferrari GTC4Lusso, while Rolls Royce is struggling with its Dawn and Wraith which are due for major updates.
2020-Q1 Exotic car sales Europe
| Exotic car segment | 2020-Q1 | 2019-Q1 | Change | 2020 share | 2019 share | |
| 1 | Bentley Continental GT / GTC | 512 | 592 | -14% | 28,6% | 28,5% |
| 2 | Ferrari 488 GTB | 367 | 317 | 16% | 20,5% | 15,3% |
| 3 | Ferrari 812 Superfast | 225 | 212 | 6% | 12,6% | 10,2% |
| 4 | Aston Martin DB11 | 187 | 240 | -22% | 10,5% | 11,6% |
| 5 | Lamborghini Huracan | 139 | 184 | -24% | 7,8% | 8,9% |
| 6 | Aston Martin DBS Superleggera | 118 | 165 | -28% | 6,6% | 8,0% |
| 7 | Lamborghini Aventador | 85 | 179 | -53% | 4,8% | 8,6% |
| 8 | Ferrari F8 | 68 | 0 | New | 3,8% | 0,0% |
| 9 | Ferrari GTC4Lusso | 45 | 74 | -39% | 2,5% | 3,6% |
| 10 | Rolls Royce Dawn | 28 | 35 | -20% | 1,6% | 1,7% |
| 11 | Rolls Royce Wraith | 15 | 25 | -40% | 0,8% | 1,2% |
| 12 | Aston Martin Vanquish | 0 | 51 | -100% | 0,0% | 2,5% |
| Segment total | 1.789 | 2.074 | -14% |
Large Sports car segment
Sales of large sports cars are impressively stable at +5% to over 6,200 units in Q1 of 2020. The segment best seller Porsche 911 has been renewed and gives the segment a boost with its 47% increase in deliveries. Only two more models manage to sell more in 2020 than in the same period last year, while all others show double digit declines. The Mercedes-AMG GT and Ferrari Portofino are both up 10%. The former holds on to its #2 spot while the latter jumps to 4th place, behind the Jaguar F-Type, down 23% as its updated version was just arriving in showrooms. The Audi R8 is down 39% but still jumps to #5 past the BMW i8, Aston Martin Vantage and Mercedes-Benz SL, all three of which are down by more than half compared to last year. So is the Lexus LC, while the Maserati GranTurismo and GranCabrio are down by 33% and 25% respectively, and the Honda NSX is down to 4 sales in Europe in the first quarter.
2020-Q1 large sports car sales Europe
| Large sports car segment | 2020-Q1 | 2019-Q1 | Change | Share | Share | |
| 1 | Porsche 911 | 3.424 | 2.331 | 47% | 55,0% | 39,3% |
| 2 | Mercedes-AMG GT | 1.114 | 1.017 | 10% | 17,9% | 17,1% |
| 3 | Jaguar F-type | 752 | 980 | -23% | 12,1% | 16,5% |
| 4 | Ferrari Portofino | 321 | 291 | 10% | 5,2% | 4,9% |
| 5 | Audi R8 | 145 | 237 | -39% | 2,3% | 4,0% |
| 6 | BMW i8 | 143 | 368 | -61% | 2,3% | 6,2% |
| 7 | Aston Martin V8/V12 Vantage | 116 | 254 | -54% | 1,9% | 4,3% |
| 8 | Mercedes-Benz SL | 115 | 266 | -57% | 1,8% | 4,5% |
| 9 | Lexus LC | 49 | 113 | -57% | 0,8% | 1,9% |
| 10 | Maserati GranTurismo | 22 | 33 | -33% | 0,4% | 0,6% |
| 11 | Maserati GranCabrio | 21 | 28 | -25% | 0,3% | 0,5% |
| 12 | Honda NSX | 4 | 11 | -64% | 0,1% | 0,2% |
| 13 | Ferrari California | 0 | 2 | -100% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| Segment total | 6.226 | 5.931 | 5% |
Small Sports car segment
In contrast with the healthy large sports segment, the small sports car segment is down 41% to below 10,000 sales in Q1 of 2020. Only three out of the 15 nameplates manages to sell more this year than in the same period last year. Of these, the most significant gainer is the still very fresh BMW Z4, up 27% which allows it to storm to the top of the ranking with 22.5% share of the class. The Audi TT and Ford Mustang both hold their podium positions as they gain share as well with sales down by 22% and 24% respectively. The Porsche 718 is up by 14 sales and follows in 4th place, ahead of the Mercedes-Benz SLC. Former leader Mazda MX-5 drops by 80% and 5 places to #6, while a similar drop in sales affects the relatively new Alpine A110. The Japanese coupes Toyota GT86, Nissan 370Z and Subaru BRZ complete the top-10 but the latter two are already below 100 sales for the quarter. The Lotus Elis is the third and last model to improve this year, but its 51 sales (up 3 sales) are a drop in the ocean.
2020-Q1 small sports car sales Europe
| Compact sports car segment | 2020-Q1 | 2019-Q1 | Change | 2020 share | 2019 share | |
| 1 | BMW Z4 | 2.240 | 1.757 | 27% | 22,5% | 10,4% |
| 2 | Audi TT | 1.914 | 2.457 | -22% | 19,2% | 14,6% |
| 3 | Ford Mustang | 1.814 | 2.401 | -24% | 18,2% | 14,2% |
| 4 | Porsche 718 Boxster/Cayman | 1.650 | 1.636 | 1% | 16,6% | 9,7% |
| 5 | Mercedes-Benz SLC | 836 | 1.222 | -32% | 8,4% | 7,2% |
| 6 | Mazda MX-5 | 743 | 3.744 | -80% | 7,5% | 22,2% |
| 7 | Alpine A110 | 255 | 1.267 | -80% | 2,6% | 7,5% |
| 8 | Toyota GT86 | 193 | 249 | -22% | 1,9% | 1,5% |
| 9 | Nissan 370Z | 98 | 137 | -28% | 1,0% | 0,8% |
| 10 | Subaru BRZ | 79 | 139 | -43% | 0,8% | 0,8% |
| 11 | Lotus Elise | 51 | 48 | 6% | 0,5% | 0,3% |
| 12 | Lotus Exige | 39 | 49 | -20% | 0,4% | 0,3% |
| 13 | Fiat 124 Spider | 25 | 1.300 | -98% | 0,3% | 7,7% |
| 14 | Chevrolet Camaro | 22 | 378 | -94% | 0,2% | 2,2% |
| 15 | Alfa Romeo 4C | 5 | 73 | -93% | 0,1% | 0,4% |
| Segment total | 9.964 | 16.857 | -41% |
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.