M/T: 740E vs LS500 vs G90 vs Continental

[kevm14]

Small luxury cars.

Alfa Romeo Giulia 112,642.90 %
Infiniti Q60 234.8 %
Audi A5 136.3 %
Jaguar XE 56 %
BMW 4-Series 12.7 %
Mercedes-Benz B-Class 9.5 %
Audi A4 2.2 %
Mercedes-Benz C-Class 1.6 %
Acura TLX -5.3 %
Infiniti Q50 -8 %
Volvo S60 -10.5 %
BMW 3-Series -15.4 %
BMW i3 -18 %
Acura ILX -19.2 %
Volvo V60 -20.9 %
Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class -23.1 %
BMW 2-Series -26.9 %
Lexus IS -27.9 %
Lexus RC -34 %
Cadillac ATS -37.5 %
Lexus CT -41 %
Infiniti Q40 -100 %

Better than the mid and large classes but still not great.

[kevm14]

Large luxury SUVs. Sorted by YTD sales. Last column is YOY growth.

Cadillac Escalade 33,242 -1.1 %
Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class 29,250 7.6 %
Land Rover Range Rover 15,794 12.9 %
Infiniti QX80 15,365 4.2 %
Lincoln Navigator 9,079 -2.5 %
Lexus LX 5,260 8 %
Mercedes-Benz G-Class 3,717 6.3 %
Toyota Land Cruiser 2,710 -16.6 %
Bentley Bentayga 1,003 56 %

That GLS might overtake the Escalade soon...Ford still sucks here as the Navigator is not only under 10k but declining.

[kevm14]

Midsize luxury SUV. Sorted by YTD, with YOY growth.

Lexus RX 94,356 -0.2 %
Cadillac XT5 61,424 91.7 %
Acura MDX 48,810 -0.9 %
Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class 48,772 5.5 %
BMW X5 43,968 6.2 %
Infiniti QX60 36,346 -2.3 %
Audi Q7 33,508 22.8 %
Lincoln MKX 28,055 2.2 %
Volvo XC90 26,225 -10.2 %
Lexus GX 23,865 10.1 %
Tesla Model X † 22,000 66.7 %
Land Rover Range Rover Sport 17,701 -5.9 %
Porsche Cayenne 12,263 -14.1 %
Infiniti QX70 6,856 32.5 %
BMW X6 5,775 -8.7 %
Land Rover Discovery / LR4 5,360 -48.4 %
Maserati Levante 4,883 272.7 %
Land Rover Range Rover Velar 4,459 0 %
Volkswagen Touareg 3,061 -20 %
Lincoln MKT 2,819 -16.6 %
Cadillac SRX 155 -99.3 %

[kevm14]

Compact luxury SUV.

Lexus NX 51,931 9.3
Acura RDX 46,487 0.2
Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class 42,491 -3.1
BMW X3 36,408 -7.2
Lincoln MKC 24,544 7.8
Volvo XC60 20,095 13.7
Porsche Macan 19,985 14
Jaguar F-Pace 17,238 110.4
Infiniti QX50 15,072 0.8
Land Rover Discovery Sport 12,721 1.1
Land Rover Range Rover Evoque 10,724 9.4
BMW X4 4,660 1.5
Alfa Romeo Stelvio 1,724 0
Land Rover LR2 0 -100
Volvo XC60 II 0

Mostly growth.

[kevm14]

And a really annoying subcompact luxury SUV class.

BMW X1 26,372 11.6 %
Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class 21,524 -3 %
Audi Q3 18,266 1.5 %
Infiniti QX30 13,263 773.1 %

This will likely be a growth area as people will pay money for things with fancy badges that are up high but not too big and therefore somewhat affordable. That is exactly why this will grow.

[Bob]

Not too many luxury vehicles in here.

This the year over year decline in percentage, sorted by worst at the top. This is just the worst 20 vehicles.

Volkswagen Passat -51.2
Hyundai Sonata -48
Hyundai Accent -47.5
Ram ProMaster -45.7
Subaru Legacy -44.2
Honda Fit -35
Kia Soul -34.9
Volkswagen Golf -34.1
Kia Optima -33.9
Dodge Charger -33.8
Chevrolet Cruze -33.1
BMW X3 -31.9
Toyota Corolla -31.8
Dodge Journey -31.8
Chevrolet Malibu -27.8
GMC Canyon -26.4
Mazda 3 -26.3
GMC Yukon -26
Honda Ridgeline -24.7
Honda HR-V -24.4

This list is pretty much the opposite of luxury. The X3 is probably declined a lot because it was a stale outgoing model.

[Bob]

Large luxury SUVs. Sorted by YTD sales. Last column is YOY growth.

Cadillac Escalade 33,242 -1.1 %
Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class 29,250 7.6 %
Land Rover Range Rover 15,794 12.9 %
Infiniti QX80 15,365 4.2 %
Lincoln Navigator 9,079 -2.5 %
Lexus LX 5,260 8 %
Mercedes-Benz G-Class 3,717 6.3 %
Toyota Land Cruiser 2,710 -16.6 %
Bentley Bentayga 1,003 56 %

That GLS might overtake the Escalade soon...Ford still sucks here as the Navigator is not only under 10k but declining.

Navigator got some kind of update for 2018 I think. Not sure if that will help or not.

[kevm14]

Not too many luxury vehicles in here.

This the year over year decline in percentage, sorted by worst at the top. This is just the worst 20 vehicles.

Volkswagen Passat -51.2
Hyundai Sonata -48
Hyundai Accent -47.5
Ram ProMaster -45.7
Subaru Legacy -44.2
Honda Fit -35
Kia Soul -34.9
Volkswagen Golf -34.1
Kia Optima -33.9
Dodge Charger -33.8
Chevrolet Cruze -33.1
BMW X3 -31.9
Toyota Corolla -31.8
Dodge Journey -31.8
Chevrolet Malibu -27.8
GMC Canyon -26.4
Mazda 3 -26.3
GMC Yukon -26
Honda Ridgeline -24.7
Honda HR-V -24.4

This list is pretty much the opposite of luxury. The X3 is probably declined a lot because it was a stale outgoing model.

It would be interesting to link any kind of causality here. Could it just be that most of these are at the tail end of their generation? Easy enough to verify, if a little tedious. But maybe my point is, looking at this list of vehicles, what does NOT seem to be a cause, is whether the car is "good" or not. And by good I mean looks good, performs good, reliable, useful....any of that. I would be interested if it was more than just how old the generation is. A car could be declining because its market segment is declining, for example. Others might be at the end of their generational run.