Sales of compact luxury cars in Europe are down 6% in the first quarter of 2019 to just over 200.000 units. Only three nameplates manage to improve their sales in this period while all but all the others are down by double digits. After storming to the top of the chart in 2018 for the very first time ever, the Mercedes-Benz A-Class distances its competition further this year, with a 34% increase in deliveries and a 7,4 percentage points improvement of share, as it now holds almost a quarter of the segment sales by itself. That leaves the former segment leader Audi A3 down into 2nd place with a loss of 3% and the BMW 1-series in third place with a loss of 11% as a new generation will arrive later this year. That will be the end of the 1-Series as the only rear-wheel drive hatchback in the class as it will shift to the front-wheel drive platform of the 2-Series Active Tourer, X1 and Mini hatchback, among others. Mercedes-Benz has a second model that improves its sales in this class, with the B-Class up 5% thanks to its all-new third generation, moving past its direct rival BMW 2-series Active/Gran Tourer, and this is before a first-ever 7-seater version of the B-Class is launched. The 2-Series vans are down 29% despite relatively successful sales of the plug-in hybrid version, which makes up about 20% of the model’s sales. In sixth place we find the third Mercedes-Benz model with the CLA, down 15% as the new, second generation is just arriving in showrooms. Undoubtedly, the CLA will end the year in the positive when deliveries of the new model, including the Shooting Brake version, start to gain traction. [Read more…]

After five years of domination, the Audi A3 is no longer the best selling compact car from a luxury brand in Europe. In 2018, the Mercedes-Benz A-Class topped the charts for the very first time, as the overall segment shrank for the second year in a row, to below 800.000 sales, 5,2% of the entire European car market. The A-Class, helped by the introduction of the fourth generation, gained 7% to set the nameplate’s highest annual sales figure since 2005 at over 150.000 sales. The A3 lost 13% of its sales while the BMW 1-series was down 7% and was stuck in third place. Just off the podium we find two MPV models, of which the BMW 2-series Active/Gran Tourer is still the best seller despite losing 20% of its sales, as the Mercedes-Benz B-Class is down just 6%. The Mercedes-Benz CLA is down 9% which means it maintains is share of the segment, despite slowly starting to age. [Read more…]

Sales of premium compact cars Europe are back to their 2015 volume after peaking at almost 940.000 units in 2016. With nearly 874.000 sales in 2017, the segment accounts for 5,6% of the total European car market, down from 6,1% the year before. The average age of the models in this segment is relatively high which explains some of the decline. The top-10 models ranking is exactly the same as 2016 but there have been some individual fluctuations and we have a new leader in the brands ranking. Audi still holds the top spot with the A3, but its 14% loss means a 1,5 percentage point of lost share as its rivals are closing in. The Mercedes-Benz A-Class is pretty stable for a model that will be renewed in 2018 and stays ahead of the BMW 1-series as both models add more than a full percentage point of share. As a result, this top-3 increases its share of the segment to 51% and they are the only nameplates with 6-figure sales. The BMW 2-Series Active and Gran Tourer MPVs are down 15% as they’re being updated early 2018, but at least they remain well ahead of the Mercedes-Benz B-Class, whose next generation will also include a 7-seater option. In fifth place, Volvo is best of the rest as usual in the premium segments in Europe, with the V40 pretty stable at -6%.

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