Sales of midsized premium cars stay on track to finish 2014 above the 600.000 unit mark after dipping below that level for the first time since more than a decade. In fact, the midsized premium segment peaked in 2002 at over a million units and has lost 40% of its volume as the midsized car segment has slumped as a whole.

The traditional leader of the segment, the BMW 3-series, is also the biggest loser of the segment at -15% as its coupe and convertible models have been renamed 4-series. This has created room for the new generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class to step up and outsell its competitor from Munich in September for the first time since February 2012. Year-to-date, the C-Class has come within 200 units of the Audi A4 and by the end of the year it will undoubtedly have taken back the second place of the segment the A4 took from it last year. [Read more…]

Sales of premium midsized cars in Europe continue their steady decline, down another 6% after sales already were down 7% over the full year 2013. No change at the top, the BMW 3-series is still “king of the hill”, not only outselling every premium midsized competitor, but plainly outselling every midsized competitor, including the mainstream midsized models. And the 3-series even manages to increase its sales, albeit marginally, despite the fact that the coupe and convertible models are no longer counted within its nameplate. The BMW 4-series are now counted separately as the 4-series and add an extra 10.000 units to BMW’s midsized tally which used to be counted as 3-series sales.

Bear in mind that Mercedes-Benz C-class sales include the coupe and convertible as well and that Audi A5 sales are made up of the coupe, convertible and sportsback versions combined. That makes BMW’s performance even more impressive, considering the 4-series is already breathing down the neck of the A5, while the 4-series Gran Coupe four-door is not yet on sale. [Read more…]

The premium midsized car segment in Europe is declining much slower than its non-premium counterpart, down just 6% in 2013, compared to -22% for the “regular midsize cars” . In fact, at 585.842 units, the premium segment has actually grown larger than the non-premium midsize segment at 563.410 units.

Perennial leader, the BMW 3-series is the only model in the top 6 to increase sales, topping out above 200.000 units for the first time since 2009. This is likely thanks to the introduction of the 3-series Touring station wagon, and the 3-series GT has added a handful of sales as well.

The 4-series coupe has been available since September, yet still outsold the Lexus IS, despite the Japanese model being the biggest winner of the segment, gaining 177% on 2012 thanks to the new generation with the more aggressive styling. [Read more…]

The premium midsized car segment in Europe, let’s call it the account manager segment,  is declining much slower than its non-premium counterpart, down just 8% in the first three quarters of 2013 compared to the same period last year. The new generation of evergreen (or should I say evergrey?) BMW 3-series is to thank for that, increasing its lead over number 2 in the segment from 3.380 units to a crushing 57.065 units. That is including 1.335 sales of the 3-series Coupe replacement BMW 4-series. To be fair, adding A5 sales to A4, BMW would still lead by 16.488 Einheiten.

With every chance to get some flavour into this segment effectively killed by the all-conquering success of glutton BMW 3-series, only its Bavarian rivals Audi A4 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class manage to sell in volumes worth mentioning, while all others just painfully fail. The German market can be thanked for this, as BMW 3-series, Audi A4/A5 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class respectively sell 34%, 36% and a whopping 43% of their total European sales at home. [Read more…]