24 March 2015

Sweden Car Sales By Brand : 1955-59

The 1959 Opel Kapitan 

The late 50's saw sales on the up as Europe was heading into prosperity. In 1952, just over 50,000 cars were registered but by 1959 the number had over trebled. It seemed the many smaller brands were now struggling and going backwards despite the good times. Borgward, GM US, Chrysler, Rootes, IFA and Leyland to name a few that fell back.

Volvo had been challenged by Ford for top spot in the previous five years and now VW and Opel/Vauxhall were the challengers. By 1959, Volvo had nearly a quarter of the sales and well ahead. Glas sold as the Goggomobil brand, although listed here as Glas. Unusual names dot the list and doing a search on the internet gives an insight to some good car manufacturers that didn't survive for various reasons.


Brand 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959

Volvo 25,017 26,268 27,911 31,151 39,029

VW 25,876 23,406 27,257 24,827 31,147

Opel/Vauxhall 17,198 21,691 30,915 27,856 29,426

Ford 16,341 15,667 16,767 16,879 18,100

Saab 4,516 6,427 8,261 8,186 9,495

BMC 7,455 6,749 9,121 7,926 7,712

Mercedes 3,228 5,552 6,485 6,840 7,521

DKW 3,424 4,173 4,683 3,026 4,240

Simca 1,581 2,421 3,441 2,878 4,111

Renault 1,216 1,340 1,558 3,256 4,009

Fiat 3,963 3,495 3,634 3,198 3,250

Peugeot 1,129 1,764 2,737 2,611 2,702

Borgward 5,123 2,762 2,278 2,082 2,324

Citroën 237 231 363 786 1,019

GM US 2,605 2,235 1,920 1,129 939

Skoda 65 675 620 329 568

Chrysler 1,687 1,241 905 650 514

Rootes 1,101 869 1,579 596 469

IFA/Wartburg 1,867 1,761 1,293 823 445

AMC 194 89 82 277 354

Glas – Goggo 35 153 292 331 235

Leyland-Std 1,947 1,281 637 565 227

BMW 275 222 278 245 219

Porsche 70 115 146 139 219

NSU


47 137

Studebaker 298 267 238 114 129

Lancia 1 4 50 109 118

Moskvitch 168 49 157 71 84

Rover 247 164 144 42 55

De Soto 303 274 151 50 2

Hudson 204 199 229 AMC

Other 376 180 215 210 215

Total 127,747 131,724 154,347 147,229 169,014

Data source: ABStatistik.

All other articles in the series: 1950-541960-641965-691970-741975-79,
1980-841985-891990-941995-992000-042005-09, and 2010-14.

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