Sports Car Sales in America – March 2019

The GCBC Analysis

Overall, Sports Car sales in America were a mixed bag of results. Muscle Car sales and Misc. Sports Car sales were down, but Euro Sports Car sales and Premium Sports Car sales were actually up.

First, the bad news. The Muscle Car segment was down over 5,000 units. All cars in the segment saw a decrease for the month. Those decreases were well into the double-digit percentages.

In the Misc Sports Car segment, the only vehicle that saw a sales increase for March was the Lexus RC. Every other model saw a sales decrease in the double digit percentages. Overall, sales were down about 4,700 units.

In the Euro Sports Car segment, the two new BMW models are what helped the segment keep from having a decrease overall. The Mercedes-Benz SLC-Class also saw a modest rise in sales. Other than those three models, it was all bad news.

In the Premium Sports Car segment, the Acura NSX, BMW i8, Ford GT, and Mercedes-Benz AMG GT all saw sales increases. The segment as a whole saw over 500 more sales in March of 2019 than it did in 2018.

The YTD sales numbers for the Premium Sports Cars looked even more impressive, indicating that this is likely to continue as the year moves forward. The other segments had YTD numbers similar to the monthly numbers, and likely won’t perform as well in the coming months.

Best Selling Sports Cars Cars Rankings

American Muscle Sports Car Sales Figures

Model	US	US LY	% Change	YTD	YTD LY	% Change
Chevrolet Camaro	4,293	5,245	-18.2	12,084	11,792	2.5
Dodge Challenger	6,562	8,150	-19.5	13,431	17,648	-23.9
Ford Mustang	6,010	8,632	-30.4	16,917	19,164	-11.7
	∑ = 16,865	∑ = 22,027		∑ = 42,432	∑ = 48,604

Euro Sports Car Sales Figures

Model	US	US LY	% Change	YTD	YTD LY	% Change
Alfa Romeo 4C	18	22	-18.2	41	54	-24.1
Porsche 718	239	489	-51.1	665	1,352	-50.8
BMW 8-Series	364	0	0.0	601	0	0.0
Jaguar F-Type	176	207	-15.0	738	741	-0.4
Mercedes-Benz SLC-Class	234	224	4.5	509	586	-13.1
Audi TT	122	186	-34.4	210	367	-42.8
BMW Z4	201	0	0.0	201	2	9,950.0
	∑ = 1,354	∑ = 1,128		∑ = 2,965	∑ = 3,102

Premium Sports Cars Sales Figures

Model	US	US LY	% Change	YTD	YTD LY	% Change
BMW 8-Series	364	0	0.0	601	0	0.0
Porsche 911	803	883	-9.1	2,894	2,511	15.3
Mercedes-Benz AMG GT	427	114	274.6	644	381	69.0
Ford GT	30	15	100.0	85	40	112.5
Nissan GT-R	49	66	-25.8	93	135	-31.1
BMW i8	91	47	93.6	161	118	36.4
Lexus LC	141	218	-35.3	320	522	-38.7
Acura NSX	26	16	62.5	79	67	17.9
Audi R8	52	53	-1.9	149	88	69.3
Mercedes-Benz SL-Class	184	227	-18.9	436	640	-31.9
	∑ = 2,167	∑ = 1,639		∑ = 5,462	∑ = 4,502

Misc Sports Cars Sales Figures

Model	US	US LY	% Change	YTD	YTD LY	% Change
Fiat 124 Spider	214	325	-34.2	513	731	-29.8
BMW 2-Series	746	1,179	-36.7	2,062	2,768	-25.5
Nissan 370Z	263	447	-41.2	647	983	-34.2
Toyota 86 / FR-S	320	491	-34.8	807	1,169	-31.0
Audi A5	2,224	2,587	-14.0	5,478	6,074	-9.8
Subaru BRZ	318	369	-13.8	819	874	-6.3
Buick Cascada	265	417	-36.5	746	918	-18.7
Chevrolet Corvette	1,401	2,101	-33.3	3,943	4,457	-11.5
Subaru Impreza WRX	2,465	3,028	-18.6	6,203	7,191	-13.7
Mazda MX-5 Miata	727	876	-17.0	1,530	1,966	-22.2
Infiniti Q60	571	1,136	-49.7	1,304	1,991	-34.5
Lexus RC	422	271	55.7	963	618	55.8
	∑ = 9,936	∑ = 13,227		∑ = 25,015	∑ = 29,740

Important note: Both Ford and GM have switched to quarterly reporting, making it more difficult to accurately gauge crossover sales. We won’t have results to report for Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Ford or Lincoln until April 2019.