31 May 2014

Italy Top Four Brands : 1970-79

The Fiat 132 replaced the fine 125, but not quite as good a car.

Moving on from the 60's, things became more fluid as brands passed and were in turn overtaken again. Fiat's Autobianchi fell away through the decade, replaced by French brands and Ford. The top share share fell from 72 to 67% as Fiat lost its total dominance of the market. Renault supplanted Alfa Romeo in second while fourth became a sort of musical chairs party game.

The Fiat 128 was European car of the year in 1970.

Clearly Italian buyers supported local brands, but pressure was mounting from ever improving foreign makes. Some Fiat models were not as good as their predecessors either, which didn't help.

Below we see the chart, which  shows sales in thousands.

Yr 1st Sales % 2nd Sales % 3rd Sales % 4th Sales % %
1970 Fiat 760 56 Ford 77 6 Aut 74 5 A R 68 5 72
1971 Fiat 822 57 A R 73 5 Ford 72 5 Aut 62 4 72
1972 Fiat 805 55 A R 85 6 Aut 83 4 Sim 68 5 71
1973 Fiat 781 54 A R 124 9 Aut 80 6 Ren 67 5 71
1974 Fiat 690 54 A R 94 7 Ren 81 6 Aut 77 6 74
1975 Fiat 511 49 A R 97 9 Ren 67 6 Aut 59 6 70
1976 Fiat 553 47 Ren 95 8 A R 92 8 Sim 66 6 68
1977 Fiat 594 49 Ren 97 8 A R 80 7 Ford 71 6 69
1978 Fiat 550 46 Ren 96 8 A R 87 7 Citr 65 5 67
1979 Fiat 641 46 Ren 121 9 A R 106 8 Ford 71 5 67

For other years, simply click on the year: 1960-69, 1980-89, 1990-99,
and 2000-2013.

27 May 2014

Italy Top Four Brands : 1960-69

The Fiat 500, named after its engine size. Called the Bambina in NZ.

Back in the 1960s, Italy was getting over World War II and starting to prosper. Car sales were rising and just about everyone was buying a Fiat car. I assume import duties made sure that the home brands were the value option.

Below in the chart we see that Fiat had about 3 in every 4 sales for much of the decade. The top four brands had a staggering 95% of the market in 1960, all of them local makes. In case you are wondering 'A R' is Alfa Romeo, 'Lan' Lancia, 'Aut' Autobianchi and 'Inn' Innocenti. The sales figures are in thousands. Fiat for example sold 851,000 in Italy in 1967.

The beautiful Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sport. I had one as a dinky car.

Autobianchi was part owned by Fiat, was a higher priced brand than Fiat, was used to test new features before they were introduced to Fiat models and - like Fiats - were small cars. It was eventually merged into Lancia.

Innocenti made BMC cars under licence and they proved quite popular. However, when BL got into financial problems of its own, it eventually and understandably impacted on the brand.

Yr 1st Sales % 2nd Sales % 3rd Sales % 4th Sales % %
1960 Fiat 291 76 A R 41 11 Lan 17 5 Aut 12 3 95
1961 Fiat 341 69 A R 52 11 Aut 25 5 Lan 23 5 90
1962 Fiat 422 66 A R 47 7 Aut 24 4 Lan 23 4 81
1963 Fiat 595 63 A R 62 7 VW 51 5 Aut 35 4 78
1964 Fiat 583 70 A R 47 6 VW 29 3 Aut 27 3 83
1965 Fiat 655 74 A R 49 5 Lan 30 3 Aut 24 3 85
1966 Fiat 753 74 A R 49 5 Inn 35 3 Lan 32 3 86
1967 Fiat 851 73 A R 54 5 Inn 45 4 Lan 36 3 85
1968 Fiat 792 68 A R 66 6 Inn 51 4 Aut 45 4 82
1969 Fiat 765 63 A R 70 6 Inn 53 4 Aut 51 4 77

For other years, simply click on the year: 1970-79, 1980-89, 1990-99,
and 2000-2013.

25 May 2014

UK Top Four Brands : 2001-2013

The Ford Fiesta shines in the UK, unlike the weather

In the late 90's, Peugeot and Renault got into the top four UK brands. However, it wasn't long before German makes elbowed them out. First VW came in, then BMW. BMW has now given way to Audi. Both Ford and GM Vauxhall has lost market share over the decades and that continued here. The extreme right column is the percentage share the top four have, and that follows the same pattern.

Going back from 1965 through to today, this series has shown the change in the UK car market. The top two were mainly stable, but below that less so. Ford has a special place in the hearts and minds of the UK car buyer, and it has earned that. It has lost market share a diversifying environment, as has Vauxhall. As for GMV, it has done well to get to where it is but I thinking VW will take second place eventually.

The GM Vauxhall Corsa is popular too

I would like to see Nissan back in the top four as they have put so much into the UK. Even Toyota and Honda have to a lesser degree. However, that scarcely matters to many UK buyers. So the UK is a big car importer and exporter.

Yr 1st Sales % 2nd Sales % 3rd Sales % 4th Sales % %
2001 Ford 404 16 GMV 310 13 Peu 206 8 Ren 182 7 45
2002 Ford 401 16 GMV 319 12 Peu 209 8 Ren 195 8 44
2003 Ford 379 15 GMV 326 13 Ren 190 7 Peu 185 7 42
2004 Ford 367 14 GMV 325 13 Ren 189 7 VW 182 7 41
2005 Ford 348 14 GMV 317 13 VW 186 8 Ren 175 7 42
2006 Ford 344 15 GMV 302 13 VW 190 8 Peu 144 6 42
2007 Ford 349 15 GMV 331 14 VW 197 8 Peu 146 6 43
2008 Ford 323 15 GMV 299 14 VW 179 8 Peu 119 6 43
2009 Ford 316 16 GMV 238 12 VW 161 8 Peu 103 5 41
2010 Ford 280 14 GMV 247 12 VW 175 9 BMW 109 5 40
2011 Ford 266 14 GMV 235 12 VW 179 9 BMW 117 6 41
2012 Ford 282 14 GMV 232 11 VW 183 9 BMW 128 6 40
2013 Ford 311 14 GMV 259 11 VW 194 9 Audi 142 6 40

To see the other two blogs in the series: 1965-1984, and 1985-2000.

11 May 2014

Top 16 Models/Brands Belgium: 1990

It may have sold well but I cannot say I am taken by it.

Sixteen is an unusual number but that is how many models exceeded 10,000 sales. Some model names remain but many have been superseded.

The Vectra was quite a good car.
As far as brand sales go, in 2013 VW is still top, Renault 2nd, Peugeot 3rd and Citroen 4th. Premium brands do better now with BMW 5th, Audi 7th and Mercedes 9th. Opel has dropped to 5th and Ford 8th. The Japanese have lost the most, with Toyota now 11th, Nissan 13th, Mazda 22nd and Mitsubishi 25th. Lada has fallen to 44th, which is the biggest loser in the top 16.


1 VW Golf 27,744
1 VW 59,619

2 Opel Kadet 23,762
2 Opel 58,585

3 Renault 19 19,363
3 Renault 49,226

4 Peugeot 205 16,177
4 Ford 41,597

5 Opel Corsa 14,213
5 Peugeot 39,325

6 Peugeot 405 13,636
6 Citroen 29,902

7 Toyota Corolla 13,455
7 Toyota 29,854

8 Ford Fiesta 13,321
8 Datsun 22,442

9 Opel Vectra 13,139
9 Audi 17,884

10 Audi 80 12,510
10 Fiat 16,464

11 Citroen BX 11,860
11 Mazda 15,050

12 VW Passat 10,972
12 Mercedes 11,978

13 Citroen AX 10,872
13 BMW 11,053

14 Ford Escort 10,772
14 Volvo 9,327

15 Ford Sierra 10,704
15 Mitsubishi 9,108

16 Datsun Sunny 10,191
16 Lada 8,645

For the Top 10 Belgium 1987, simply click here.
For the Top 10 Belgium 2003, simply click here.