Luxury car sales recover despite pandemic

 In Automotive, Brands, Economy, News

Car sales are starting to recover but continue to fall short of pre-pandemic levels.

Sales of cars rose 25.6% in the first half of 2021, with some brands displaying two-digit growth. But in the case of luxury brand Porsche, sales have already reached three digits this year in Portugal.
Peugeot sales (6,612) have grown 34.8%, more than double the sales of Renault, to win the gold medal in terms of sales for the first six months of the year.
Mercedes sales at just under 500 cars were slightly lower at 6.9%, with BMW trailing behind with vehicle sales of 6,322.
Sales of both Mercedes and BMW, both considered premium brands, have grown in the national car sales ranking. Sales were stronger, however, for more affordable brands such as Citroen, Seat and Opel which are in the top 10 with sales of around 3,300 cars.
Far from the top of the raking table are the more exclusive brands, sales of which have been growing considerably, with sales outstripping many others in terms of receipts. A case in point is Ferrari. Whilst not selling thousands of vehicles, the sales do have a huge impact on the percentage variation, with growth of 116% with 13 new cars, each worth hundreds of thousands of euros, with some top-of-the-range models costing up to €1 million being driven out of luxury car showrooms.
In the first six months of 2020, however, only Ferrari six cars were sold.
Ferrari car sales may have skyrocketed on last year, but other luxury brands also saw strong growth. Bentley sales were up 50% in the first half on the same period last year, selling 15 cars while Aston Martin also sold 15 cars and Maserati sold 10.
Lamborghini sold nine vehicles (it sold 10 in the first half of 2020) and was the only luxury brand to sell less in the first six months of 2021 than the like-for-like period in 2020.
Porsche sales also suffered sluggish growth at just 2.4% but tends to sell a lot more cars than the previous two brands mentioned.
Porsche sold 377 cars in the first 180 days of 2021, or almost two cars per day. This volume of sales puts Porsche high up in the ranks of the more accessible luxury cars and not that far off from other brands such as Honda or Mazda.