The F-segment is the 6th category and largest of the European segments for passenger cars, and always belongs to "

luxury cars A luxury car is a car that provides increased levels of comfort, equipment, amenities, quality, performance, and associated status compared to moderately priced cars. The term is subjective and reflects both the qualities of the car and the ...

". The equivalent categories are full-size luxury sedan (or "large luxury sedan") in the United States, luxury saloon (or "luxury limousine") in the United Kingdom, and Oberklasse in Germany. Extended-wheelbase

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a pr ...

s and armored sedans are also considered as F-segment. F-segment is a niche of the European market (approximately 0.2–0.3% in the 2010s) and the range is limited to only a few models.

Characteristics

Most F-segment cars use a sedan body style, however some have been produced as wagons/estates or have a

hatchback A hatchback is a car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to a cargo area. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second row seating, where the interior can be reconfigured to prioritize passenger or cargo volume. ...

rear door. Extended wheelbase variants of these cars are common, as many of the luxury features are placed for the rear-seat occupants. In some markets (depending on the manufacturer), short wheelbase models are excluded completely, and only long wheelbase variants are sold. Ultra-luxury cars are also included in F-segment.

Current models

In 2020, the highest selling F-segment cars in Europe were the BMW 8 Series, BMW 7 Series, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Porsche Panamera and Audi A8 / S8. 1000–10.000 sales (best-selling) File:2020 BMW 840d xDrive Automatic Gran Coupe 3.0 Front.jpg, BMW 8 Series
2nd generation (2018–present) File:2019 BMW 740Li Automatic facelift 3.0.jpg,

BMW 7 Series The BMW 7 Series is a full-size luxury sedan manufactured and marketed by the German automaker BMW since 1977. It is the successor to the BMW E3 "New Six" sedan and is now in its seventh generation. The 7 Series is BMW's flagship car and is ...

6th generation (2015-present) Mercedes-Benz W223 IAA 2021 1X7A0206.jpg, Mercedes-Benz S-Class
7th generation (2020-present) File:2017 Porsche Panamera E-Hybrid 4 S-A 2.9 Front.jpg,

Porsche Panamera The Porsche Panamera is a mid/full-sized luxury car (E-segment/F-segment in Europe) manufactured and marketed by German automobile manufacturer Porsche across two generations using a front-engine, rear or all-wheel drive configuration. Pors ...

2nd generation (2017–present) File:2018 Audi A8 50 TDi Quattro Automatic 3.0 Front.jpg,

Audi A8 The Audi A8 is a full-size luxury sedan manufactured and marketed by the German automaker Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its paren ...

4th generation (2018–present) Less than 1000 sales File:Lexus LS 500h (GVF50) IMG 5829.jpg,

Lexus LS The is a full-size car, full-size luxury car, luxury sedan (F-segment in Europe) serving as the Core product, flagship model of Lexus, the luxury division (business), division of Toyota. For the first four generations, all LS models featured V8 ...

5th generation (2017-present) File:2018 Maserati Quattroporte V6 Automatic 3.0 Front.jpg, Maserati Quattroporte
6th generation (2013–present) Less than 1000 sales (ultra-luxury models) File:Bentley Flying Spur (2019) IMG 2635.jpg,

Bentley Flying Spur (2005) The Bentley Flying Spur is a full-sized high-performance luxury saloon produced by Bentley Motors Limited since 2005. It is the four-door grand tourer variant of the Bentley Continental GT coupé. The Flying Spur is handcrafted at Bentley's ...

3rd generation (2019–present) File:2022 Rolls-Royce Ghost Black Badge in Arctic White, front left (2).jpg,

Rolls-Royce Ghost The Rolls-Royce Ghost is a full-sized luxury car manufactured by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. The "Ghost" nameplate, named in honour of the Silver Ghost, a car first produced in 1906, was announced in April 2009 at the Auto Shanghai show. The produ ...

2nd generation (2020–present) File:2019 Rolls-Royce Phantom V12 Automatic 6.75.jpg,

Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII The Rolls-Royce Phantom is a full-sized luxury saloon manufactured by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. It is the eighth and current generation of the Rolls-Royce Phantom, debuting in 2017, and the second launched by Rolls-Royce under BMW ownership. It ...

8th generation (2017-present) Ceased production File:Bentley Mulsanne – Frontansicht (6), 30. August 2011, Düsseldorf.jpg, Bentley Mulsanne
2nd generation (2010-2020) File:2016 Aston Martin Rapide S V12 Automatic 6.0 Front.jpg,

Aston Martin Rapide The Aston Martin Rapide is a 4-door, 4-seater, high-performance sports saloon, which the British luxury marque Aston Martin introduced in early 2010. It was first presented as a concept car at the North American International Auto Show in 2006 ...

1st generation(2010-2020) File:2018 Jaguar XJL Autobiography Diesel V6 Automatic 3.0 Front.jpg,

Jaguar XJ The Jaguar XJ is a series of full-size luxury cars produced by British automobile manufacturer Jaguar Cars (becoming Jaguar Land Rover in 2013) from 1968 to 2019. It was produced across five basic platform generations (debuting in 1968, 1986, 1 ...

4th generation (2011-2020)

Sales figures in Europe

Market share in Europe

2019 - Sales of limousines in Europe were down 6% in 2019 to just over 41,000 sales which makes this the second consecutive year of decline for the segment. 2020 - European sales of limousines and upper class vehicles were down 29% in 2020, to just over 29,000 deliveries. This trials the overall market and drops their share to 0.2% of the total European car market, down from 0.3% last year.

Asia

In China,

Hongqi CA72 The Hongqi CA72 is a car produced by FAW Hongqi. It was the company's first production automobile and the first representative sedan that was constructed and built in China. Produced from 1959 until 1963, the CA72 was only available to state ins ...

was launched in 1958, making it the oldest Chinese F-segment car. The first F-segment car from an Asian manufacturer for an outside market was the 1989

Lexus LS400 The is a full-size luxury sedan (F-segment in Europe) serving as the flagship model of Lexus, the luxury division of Toyota. For the first four generations, all LS models featured V8 engines and were predominantly rear-wheel-drive. In the fourt ...

. Before the debut of luxury orientated Japanese manufacturers such as

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked among the 10 largest Japanese ...

Infiniti is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Nissan. Infiniti officially started selling vehicles on November 8, 1989, in North America. The marketing network for Infiniti-branded vehicles included dealers in over 50 countries in ...

, most flagship models were limited for Japan only. Examples included the

Toyota Century The is a limousine produced mainly for the Japanese market, serving as Toyota's flagship car within Japan; globally the unrelated Lexus LS series is Toyota's flagship luxury model. Production of the Century began in 1967, and the model received ...

and

Nissan President The is a Japanese luxury sedan that manufactured and marketed by Nissan from 1965 to 2010 as a JDM luxury sedan, the flagship of Nissan's range, marketed at its '' Nissan Motor Store'' dealerships. Initially marketed in the JDM, in the late ...

. In South Korea, early F-segment cars were the result of partnerships with long-established manufacturers, for example the 1994 Daewoo Arcadia (a re-badged Honda Legend), the 1997

SsangYong Chairman The SsangYong Chairman is a full-size luxury car that was manufactured by South Korean automaker SsangYong from 1997 to 2017. The original model was renamed Chairman H in 2008, with a new model introduced in the same year and designated Chairm ...

(based on the Mercedes-Benz E-Class) and the 1999

Hyundai Equus The Hyundai Equus () is a full-size, front-engine, rear-drive, four-door, five passenger luxury sedan manufactured and marketed by Hyundai from 1999 to 2016. The name ''" equus"'' is the Latin word for "horse". In 2009, Hyundai released the sec ...

(based on the Mitsubishi Proudia/Dignity). More recent F-segment cars from South Korea include the Genesis G90.

Europe

The lineage of Mercedes-Benz's current F-segment car begins with the 1951 Mercedes-Benz W187. The W187 was replaced by the

Mercedes-Benz W180 : ''See Mercedes-Benz S-Class for a complete overview of all S-Class models.'' The Mercedes-Benz W180 is an inline 6- cylinder saloon, coupé, and convertible made from 1954 until 1959. The models associated with the W180 chassis A chassis (, ...

(nicknamed "Ponton") in 1954, which was replaced by the

Mercedes-Benz W111 : ''See Mercedes-Benz S-Class for a complete overview of all S-Class models.'' The Mercedes-Benz W111 was a chassis code given to a range of Mercedes-Benz vehicles produced between 1959 and 1971, including four-door saloons (1959-1968) and two- ...

in 1959, which was replaced by the

Mercedes-Benz W108 The Mercedes-Benz W108 and W109 are luxury cars produced by Mercedes-Benz from 1965 through to 1972 (or 1973 in North America). The line was an upgrade of the Mercedes-Benz W114/W115, to succeed the W111 and W112 ''fintail'' sedans. The cars w ...

in 1965. The W108 was replaced by the Mercedes-Benz S-Class in 1972, which has been produced for six generations and remains in production today. Jaguar's first F-segment car was the 1951

Jaguar Mark VII The Jaguar Mark VII is a four-door luxury car produced by Jaguar Cars of Coventry from 1951 to 1956. Launched at the 1950 British International Motor Show as the successor to the Jaguar Mark V, it was called the Mark VII because there was alread ...

. The Mark VII was replaced by the 1956

Jaguar Mark VIII The Jaguar Mark VIII is a luxury four-door automobile introduced by the Jaguar Cars, Jaguar company of Coventry at the 1956 London Motor Show. Styling The car shared its wheelbase with its predecessor, the Jaguar Mark VII M, which outwardly it ...

, then the 1959

Jaguar Mark IX The Jaguar Mark IX is a four-door luxury saloon car announced 8 October 1958Greater Power of the Jaguar IX. ''The Times'', Wednesday, October 8, 1958, Issue 54276, p.4 and produced by Jaguar Cars between 1958 and 1961. It was generally simil ...

and the 1961 Jaguar Mark X, which was renamed the "Jaguar 420G" in 1966. The 420G was replaced by the

in 1968, which has been produced for four generations and has just ceased production in 2020. The 1952–1963 BMW 501/502 sedans are predecessors to BMW's current line of F-segment cars. The successor to the 501/502 was the

BMW New Six The BMW New Six (also known as the BMW E3) is a line of mid-size luxury sedans and grand tourer coupés produced by the German automaker BMW from 1968 to 1977. All models used the then-new M30 straight-6 engine. It marked BMW's return to the fu ...

(also known as E3), introduced in 1977. The E3 was replaced by the

in 1978, which has been produced for six generations and remains in production today. The Maserati Quattroporte was released in 1963 and is currently in its sixth generation. The first F-segment car from Audi was the 1988

Audi V8 The Audi V8 (''Typ'' 4C) is a four-door, full-size luxury sedan, designed, manufactured and marketed by Audi in Germany from 1988-1993, as the company's flagship. As the first car from Audi to use a V8 engine, also was the first Audi to combine ...

. The Audi V8 was replaced by the

in 1994, which has been produced for four generations and remains in production today.

United States

F-segment cars are known as "full-size luxury cars" in the United States, and form part of the

full-size car Full-size car—also known as large car—is a vehicle size class which originated in the United States and is used for cars larger than mid-size cars, it is the largest size class for cars. In Europe, it is known as E-segment or F-segment. ...

category (along with non-luxury large cars and the smaller E-segment cars).

References

{{Automobile configuration Euro car segments Luxury vehicles