Sales of midsized cars in Europe have declined by double digits in 2018 for the second consecutive year, after a sharp rebound in 2015 and stable sales in 2016. The segment which sold nearly 1 million units as recently as 10 years ago is now down to its lowest volume ever at less than half that volume. At just 450,000 sales, mainstream midsized cars now account for less than 3% of the European market, down from 3.5% in 2017 and from 6.9% in 2007. Only one nameplate in the segment has been able to add volume last year and only two saw single digit declines with the remaining players in double digit declines.
Segment leader Volkswagen Passat did only slightly better than the rest of the segment at -16% to increase its share to 34,2% of the segment. Its platform sibling Skoda Superb holds on to 2nd place which means that a VW-Skoda duo finishes on top of the annual ranking in both the compact and midsized segments for the second consecutive year, and that VW Group now sells more than one of every two midsized cars sold in Europe, with these two models. The Opel/Vauxhall Insignia is the only model to even come close to the dominant players, and it was just 3,000 sales behind the Superb at the end of August, with sales up 25%. But then came the new WLTP fuel efficiency testing standards, and sales of the Insignia collapsed as in Q4 the model sold just half of what it sold in the same period of 2017, and it ended 2018 with a 7% loss. At least that means it improved its share of the segment to 15%.
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