Toyota UK Sales 1965-79 (by model)

The 1965 Corona

Toyota arrived in the UK late 1965 with the Corona model, sporting 'luxuries' rare on a family car at the time. Features such as two-speed wipers and a heater were quite a novelty on a mainstream car. The Corona was soon followed by the Corolla to spearhead the sales push into Britain.

From 1965 to 1968, 1,961 cars had been sold. In 1969 1,211 cars found homes, 1970 1,327 and 1971 3,982. Things kicked off in 1972 as imports started to make inroads into the local market. The Corolla was the best selling model, with the Starlet not far behind.

Mod/Yr	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
Corolla	5,253	7,666	7,046	8,310	9,657	11,850	10,315	9,116
Starlet	-	-	582	5,172	5,330	4,387	4,137	7,910
Carina*		5,008	3,549	3,272	3,070	3,151	4,348	6,076
Celica		3,632	2,751	2,974	3,423	2,985	5,131	5,294
Cressida	-	-	-	-	-	1,293	3,897	3,315
Crown		1,821	838	462	458	449	490	502
Others	8,273	396	48	80	156	42	16	7
Total	13,526	18,523	14,814	20,270	22,094	24,157	28,334	32,220
*Carina and Corona models combined

Data source: Mainly Toyota UK.
For the 1980-89 period, please click here.

The 1970 Celica 

GM India/South Africa : A Disappointment

This bakkie wasn't enough to save Chevrolet South Africa

GM has decided to stop selling cars in India but keep on making them there. I find that hard to fathom. By making cars there, surely that avoids import duty and allows the cars to be sold profitably. Despite being in the market over 20 years, it still had less that 1% market share. For that reason the plug has been pulled.

At the same time, the decision has been made to leave South Africa, both in manufacturing and sales. The plant will be taken over by Isuzu, who currently share it. This means Chevrolet will leave the RSA after over 90 years there. As for the Opel brand, it will be up to PSA to take that over if they wish.

Sales of Chev have been in free fall while Opel has held up better. Market share for passenger cars dropped from 7.7% in 2012 to 3.3% for 2016. The decline would have been worse but for Opel. Light commercial vehicles fared slightly better, from 12.1% in 2012 to 7.9% in 2016.

	GM Passenger Car Sales : RSA
	Make/Yr	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
	Chevrolet	31,183	23,328	21,621	14,389	7,847
	Opel	2,704	2,603	3,598	6,486	4,101
	Total	33,887	25,931	25,219	20,875	11,948
	Share	7.7%	5.8%	5.7%	5.1%	3.3%
	GM LCV Sales : RSA
	Chevrolet	19,556	18,484	16,865	16,693	12,578
	Share	12.1%	11.0%	9.7%	9.6%	7.9%

There is no point in running operations that are losing money. However, as to why GM struggles to make money while other succeed is a valid question. Whatever the reasons, GM has decided to terminate its problem areas rather than continue to try fix them.

Data source: Naamsa.

Opel/Vauxhall Euro Sales - 2012-16 (Nations)

When one looks closer at national sales of Opel/Vauxhall, certain countries are more partial to them than others. So in the final in this short series, let's look at how national purchasing varied.

First up Germany is the biggest market in Europe and where Opel is based. That didn't translate in to sales during this present decade. It was comfortably behind Europe's second biggest, the UK. France may be the third nation in size but ran fifth since 2011, when it was one place higher. Ironically Opel /Vauxhall are to come under France's PSA control so it will be interesting to see if that makes any difference. Spain's car manufacturing industry benefits from Opel/Vauxhall so that could explain the strong support it gets there.

The others (6th-10th) generally follow the size of their respective markets, with the exception of Denmark, which boxes above its weight. Russia was abandoned by Opel, hence the crash there. Of those not included, Sweden is a notable omission. The list below is the top ten in each year.

12	13	14	15	16		2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
1	1	1	1	1	UK	258,852	289,279	301,931	311,642	288,865
2	2	2	2	2	Germany	224,468	217,686	231,147	242,677	258,598
3	4	3	3	3	Italy	82,806	74,709	80,643	94,424	102,034
6	6	4	4	4	Spain	52,698	57,417	70,488	81,976	96,525
5	5	5	5	5	France	78,923	65,024	66,791	70,952	75,273
7	7	7	6	6	Turkey	49,825	55,993	39,255	47,000	55,471
8	8	8	7	7	Belg/Lux	41,666	39,126	37,363	39,763	45,413
9	9	10	9	8	Nederland	41,338	28,391	27,820	31,368	38,775
-	-	9	8	9	Poland	-	-	28,052	31,914	37,501
10	10	-	10	10	Austria	21,323	21,752	-	23,977	24,864
4	3	6	-	-	Russia	81,242	81,421	64,985	-	-

Data source: GM Europe.