Sales of exotic cars in Europe grow at double the overall market in the first three quarters of 2016 with an increase of 15% to 4.773 units, compared to +7,5% of the rest of the market. More than half of those sales are for just two models: the Bentley Continental GT / GTC and the new Ferrari 488. The Ferrari was the segment leader in Q2 but the Bentley outsold it in Q1 and Q3. That means the British coupe and convertible is likely to celebrate its 5th consecutive year as the best selling exotic car in Europe, with either the 488 or its predecessor Ferrari 458 Italia not far behind for most of that time. The Lamborghini Huracan consolidates its third place thanks to the arrival of the Spider version. The Rolls Royce Dawn was the #4 of the segment in Q3 and moves to 7th place year-to-date with a good shot at moving up one more place by year end, trumping the Aston Martin DB9, which is being replaced by the al-new DB11.
Note: clicking on the model name opens the sales data page for that model; clicking year in the legend turns the display for that year on/off
The Ferrari F12 shows an impressive gain and so does the Lamborghini Aventador. Contrastingly, the Aston Martin Vanquish is down by 30% and the Rolls Royce Wraith coupe is being cannibalized by the Dawn convertible. The Ferrari FF is about to be replaced by the GTC4Lusso, and the Bugatti Chiron will replace the Veyron, but don’t expecdt double digit quarterly figures, as production remains severely limited. Surprisingly, 3 new Lamborghini Gallardo’s were sold in Q3, almost 3 years after production of the model has ended.
2016 Q1-Q3 Exotic car sales Europe
| Exotic car segment | 2016 Q3 | 2015 Q3 | Change | |
| 1 | Bentley Continental GT / GTC | 1.365 | 1.247 | 9% |
| 2 | Ferrari 488 GTB | 1.109 | 62 | New |
| 3 | Lamborghini Huracan | 447 | 452 | -1% |
| 4 | Ferrari F12 | 333 | 262 | 27% |
| 5 | Lamborghini Aventador | 289 | 216 | 34% |
| 6 | Aston Martin DB9 | 239 | 220 | 9% |
| 7 | Rolls Royce Dawn | 207 | 0 | New |
| 8 | Aston Martin Vanquish | 206 | 293 | -30% |
| 9 | Rolls Royce Wraith | 160 | 194 | -18% |
| 10 | Ferrari 458 Italia | 105 | 846 | -88% |
| 11 | Ferrari FF | 72 | 131 | -45% |
| 12 | Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG | 11 | 46 | -76% |
| 13 | Bugatti | 5 | 11 | -55% |
| 14 | Lamborghini Gallardo | 4 | 10 | -60% |
| 15 | Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren | 2 | 0 | New |
| Segment total | 4.773 | 4.160 | 15% |
Large Sports car segment
Sales of large sports cars are down 10% in Q3 but still up 2% for the nine months of 2016, dipping below the growth of the overall market. If it wasn’t for the alpha male of the segment, the Porsche 911, the segment would actually be down YTD as well. The updated 911, now with turbocharged engines as standard, commands a 52,4% share of the segment this year and has clocked up a 10% increase in the three quarters, while no other car in the top-5 grows by 1% or more. The 911’s nearest competitor Jaguar F-Type is down by 1% and sells less than one third of its volume, while the next intended “911-killer” Mercedes-AMG is down by more than half in Q3 and adds just 7 sales in nine months time. As a result, the facelifted Mercedes-Benz SL outsells it by a large margin in Q3 and reduces its year-to-date loss to 5%, while the BMW i8 loses almost a third of its volume so far this year.
The new generation Audi R8 is the only other model to improve sales in 2016, with sales up 47% on the first generation. The Ferrari California T is already down, but still ahead of the Aston Martin Vantage, while the two Maserati models, the GranTurismo Coupe and the GranCabrio convertible are pretty stable considering the former is already 9 years old.
2016 Q1-Q3 large sports car sales Europe
| Large sportscar segment | 2016 Q3 | 2015 Q3 | Change | |
| 1 | Porsche 911 | 12.607 | 11.412 | 10% |
| 2 | Jaguar F-type | 3.779 | 3.809 | -1% |
| 3 | Mercedes-AMG GT | 2.038 | 2.031 | 0% |
| 4 | Mercedes-Benz SL | 1.633 | 1.712 | -5% |
| 5 | BMW i8 | 1.222 | 1.764 | -31% |
| 6 | Audi R8 | 1.203 | 817 | 47% |
| 7 | Ferrari California | 617 | 749 | -18% |
| 8 | Aston Martin V8/V12 Vantage | 510 | 571 | -11% |
| 9 | Maserati GranTurismo | 260 | 264 | -2% |
| 10 | Maserati GranCabrio | 189 | 197 | -4% |
| 11 | Jaguar XK | 1 | 165 | -99% |
| Segment total | 24.059 | 23.491 | 2% |
Small Sports car segment
The small sports car segment is stabilizing after a booming growth in the first half of 2016, when sales were up 42%. In Q3, the growth slowed down to just 4,2%, bringing the year-to-date increase to 28%. Part of this slowdown can be attributed to the segment leading Audi TT, which shows a sales loss for the first time since the third generation was launched two years ago. The TT outsold the #2 of the segment, the Ford Mustang by just over 1.000 units in both Q2 and Q3, indicating the American muscle car may have a shot at challenging for the segment lead in 2017. That would be an impressive feat for the model, which hadn’t been officially available in Europe until its current generation. The Mazda MX-5 is in third place year-to-date because of cannibalization from its Italian platform sibling Fiat 124 Spider. In fact, if we combine sales of the two models, they would be the segment best sellers in Q3 with 4.805 sales vs. 4.603 for the TT. Also, the Japanese/Italian roadster duo is responsible for more than the overall segment growth so far this year.
The Mercedes-Benz SLC is starting to pick up traction to also challenge for the segment lead, which its predecessor held until early last year. The Porsche Boxster is down as customers are awaiting the new 718 Boxster version, while the Cayman is actually up 17% but was outsold by the BMW Z4 in Q3, of which production has ended in June but the last few units are scooped at a nice discount. The Toyota GT86 is down 15% but distances the Alfa Romeo 4C in the third quarter, while the Nissan 370Z is impressively stable. The Mustang’s main rival in the US, the Chevrolet Camaro, shows a nice 26% growth but remains the underdog by far due to a greatly reduced dealer body after Chevrolet pulled its South-Korean models from the European market. The three Lotus models are stuck at the bottom of the ranking, but the Exige and Elise outsold the Subaru BRZ in Q3.
2016 Q1-Q3 small sports car sales Europe
| Compact sportscar segment | 2016 Q3 | 2015 Q3 | Change | |
| 1 | Audi TT | 17.030 | 17.915 | -5% |
| 2 | Ford Mustang | 12.694 | 2.146 | 492% |
| 3 | Mazda MX-5 | 12.119 | 4.389 | 176% |
| 4 | Mercedes-Benz SLC | 5.146 | 0 | New |
| 5 | Porsche Boxster | 3.323 | 3.614 | -8% |
| 6 | Porsche Cayman | 2.942 | 2.521 | 17% |
| 7 | BMW Z4 | 2.667 | 3.545 | -25% |
| 8 | Fiat 124 Spider | 2.385 | 0 | New |
| 9 | Mercedes-Benz SLK | 2.142 | 8.906 | -76% |
| 10 | Toyota GT86 | 1.109 | 1.307 | -15% |
| 11 | Alfa Romeo 4C | 1.020 | 838 | 22% |
| 12 | Nissan 370Z | 676 | 651 | 4% |
| 13 | Peugeot RCZ | 475 | 3.685 | -87% |
| 14 | Chevrolet Camaro | 398 | 317 | 26% |
| 15 | Subaru BRZ | 279 | 337 | -17% |
| 16 | Lotus Exige | 267 | 238 | 12% |
| 17 | Lotus Elise | 242 | 272 | -11% |
| 18 | Lotus Evora | 165 | 120 | 38% |
| Segment total | 65.079 | 50.801 | 28% |
Click on any model to see its annual sales from 1997-2016 and monthly sales from 2012 to 2016, or use the dropdown menu in the top right of this site.
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.