Norway 1956: VW Beetle and Pobeda dominate
Pobeda (4wd model aka GAZ M-71)
* See the Top 10 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Rene *
This is the oldest official models ranking I can share with you about Norway. 10,782 vehicles were sold in 1956 in Norway and at that time the VW Beetle was in pole position with 1,518 sales and 14.1% share. I bet you didn’t know the #2 model until now: it is the Pobeda, in fact a GAZ M20-Pobeda sold simply as the “Pobeda” (meaning Victory in Russian). It sells 1,369 units in Norway in 1956 for a huge 12.7% market share…
IFA F8. Picture by Ralf Christian Kunkel, all rights reserved.
Rounding up the podium with 1,143 sales and 10.6% is IFA. Here too a little known brand, Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau, producing pre-war designs in Zwickau, East Germany. 1956 was the last year the IFA brand was used and two models were sold: the F8 which became the Zwickau P70 and the F9 which was rebranded Wartburg and saw its production shift to Eisenach. Skoda and Moskwich complete the Top 5.
Next post: Norway 1957-1958: Volvo 444/544 takes the lead
Full Year 1956 Top 10 Ranking Table below.
Norway Full Year 1956:
| Pos | Model | 1956 | % |
| 1 | VW Beetle | 1,518 | 14.1% |
| 2 | Pobeda | 1,369 | 12.7% |
| 3 | IFA | 1,143 | 10.6% |
| 4 | Skoda | 772 | 7.2% |
| 5 | Moskwich | 698 | 6.5% |
| 6 | Opel Olympia/Rekord | 599 | 5.6% |
| 7 | Volvo | 508 | 4.7% |
| 8 | Mercedes-Benz | 468 | 4.3% |
| 9 | Opel Kapitan | 440 | 4.1% |
| 10 | Warzava | 323 | 3.0% |
Source: www.bilnorge.no, many thanks to Rene for sharing the data!
