Car Market Germany: 1970's

In the 70's things were changing steadily in the German car market. The top three brands lost ground, especially Ford. Meanwhile, the three premium brands closed in as more affluent German buyers could afford to move up a level of quality. Japanese brands were starting to feature and import European car makers were feeling their presence. In 1979 sales and market share were as below:

1 VW 580,575 22.1%
2 Opel 471,900 18.0%
3 Ford 311,925 11.9%
4 Audi 246,650 9.4%
5 Mercedes 242,850 9.3%
6 BMW 153,925 5.9%
7 Renault 129,750 4.9%
8 Fiat 83,200 3.2%
9 Citroen 50,700 1.9%
10 Talbot 43,950 1.7%
11 Peugeot 41,150 1.6%
12 Toyota 32,500 1.2%
13 Mazda 32,400 1.2%
14 Nissan 32,000 1.2%
15 Honda 28,700 1.1%
16 Volvo 25,000 1.0%
17 Alfa Rom 22,750 0.9%
18 Mitsubishi 20,725 0.8%
19 Porsche 12,000 0.5%
20 GM US 11,425 0.4%
21 FSO 11,275 0.4%
22 Lada 10,650 0.4%
23 BLMC 9,700 0.4%
Sonstige 17,750 0.7%
Insgesamt 2,623,400

Since then, the three German premium brands have taken an even stronger hold while the Asian threat faltered as Japanese brands failed to increase their market share. Overall the German market now seems to be rather predictable, strong support for local product and foreign makes largely on the periphery.

Source: VDA