Sales of Exotic cars have all but come to a halt in the last quarter of 2015. Sales were up 5% in the first half of the year, but then the fortunes changed: -13% in Q3 and a worrying -44% in Q4, leading to a full year total of 18,277 sales, down 16.6% on 2014. The pain in the last quarter is shared by all brands, but even for the full year there’s only one brand that shows volume growth, plus one limited edition sports car. Perhaps the slowdown is due to the fact that the two best selling brands in the exotic car segment are introducing their first SUV in 2016.
Sales at Maserati dropped 18% from its record year when the brands almost tripled its sales, so 2015 is still the second-best ever year for the Italians in the US, by a large margin. This spike in sales was due to the introduction of the Ghibli sedan, and this will be followed by the all-new Levante SUV later this year, which should bring Maserati back into growth mode. Bentley is launching its first SUV as well this year, but its Bentayga is positioned even higher than the Levante, as the Bentley will be the most luxurious, fastest and most expensive SUV on the market. They’re making 5,000 of them this year for the whole world and each of those already has a buyer lined up, which means the British brand is likely to grow by 30% in 2016. American customers have been eagerly awaiting the Bentayga as sales dropped 31% in 2015 after 5 consecutive years of growth.
Ferrari is more stable at just -6%, probably helped by both the facelifted California T and the changeover from 458 Italia to 488 GTB. Rolls Royce is the only brand to show an increase in 2015, at +9%. The first deliveries of the Dawn convertible may have helped the British brand, which continues to deny any plans to develop a Rolls Royce SUV anytime soon. Its excellent year has put Rolls ahead of its fellow British brand Aston Martin for the first time in at least this millennium and perhaps ever. Aston Martin is down 13% in the middle of a new product drought.
Lamborghini sales are stable, as its two-car line-up outsells the Dodge/SRT Viper, which loses 11% of its volume in what is very likely one of the model’s last few years. Porsche sells 203 units of the 918 Spyder, bringing the total of US deliveries to 285 out of 918 units produced, while AMG and Lexus sell the last few remaining units of their SLS and LFA. Expect the segment to rebound in 2016, helped by the arrival of the Bentley Bentayga and the Maserati Levante.
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