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.

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.

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.

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.