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Italy 1973: Fiat 128 and 127 fight it out, Fiat 126 on podium

January 9th, 1974 Leave a comment Go to comments

Fiat 128

Fiat 127

* See the Top 65 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Andrea *

In 1973 the Fiat 128 is the best-selling car in Italy for the 2nd year in a row, but the race was close with the Fiat 127 still gearing up 2 years after its launch. The 128 is at 200,445 sales after 11 months, down 16% on the same period in 1972, while the 127 is up 2% to 182,056 units…

Fiat 126

However the big event this year is the arrival on the podium of the Fiat 126, launched the replace the 500, ranking directly #3 with 146,543 sales in 11 months. The Fiat 500 logically drops 56% and one spot to #4 at 78,265 units. With the Fiat 124 in 5th position, Fiat places 5 models in the Italian Top 5, a rare feat.

Alfa Romeo Alfasud

Two new Alfa Romeos arrive in the Top 10 this year: the Alfasud at #8 with 41,675 sales and the Alfetta at #9 with 31,344 sales. The Renault 5 becomes the best-selling foreign model in the country at #10 and 28,732 units, ahead of the Simca 1000, Ford Escort and VW Beetle.

Thanks to the UNRAE team, I can now share with you the Top 20 best-selling brands and most produced models for 1973 (see ‘Read more’). 1973 is the first year a brand other than Fiat manages to sell over 100,000 units: Alfa Romeo is the 2nd best-selling brand in the country with 123,503 sales.

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Full 11 months 1973 Top 65 Ranking Table below.

Italy 11 months 1973:

Pos Model 11m 1973 73/72 11m 1972 Pos
1 Fiat 128 200,445 -16% 239,675 1
2 Fiat 127 182,056 1% 181,068 2
3 Fiat 126 146,543 new n/a  -
4 Fiat 500 78,265 -56% 176,005 3
5 Fiat 124 77,072 -19% 95,497 4
6 Autobianchi A112 66,337 16% 57,127 6
7 Leyland-Innocenti Mini 43,146 -26% 58,168 5
8 Alfa Romeo Alfasud 41,675 233% 12,497 23
9 Alfa Romeo Alfetta 31,344 219% 9,839 28
10 Renault 5 28,732 911% 2,842 44
11 Simca 1000 28,156 n/a 33,038 8
12 Alfa Romeo Giulia 27,141 -20% 34,137 7
13 Ford Escort 21,288 -26% 28,681 10
14 VW 1200/1300 21,172 27% 16,672 18
15 Citroen GS 19,940 -1% 20,111 13
16 Fiat 132 18,684 n/a 17,252 16
17 Opel Kadett 18,249 n/a 21,855 11
18 Simca 1100 15,636 45% 10,758 26
19 Alfa Romeo 2000 14,219 n/a 21,713 12
20 Lancia Beta 14,077 new 0  -
21 Citroen Dyane 13,201 -14% 15,296 19
22 Renault 6 12,878 n/a 17,218 17
23 Ford Taunus 12,862 -9% 14,063 21
24 Simca 1301 12,720 -27% 17,403 15
25 NSU Prinz 10,826 n/a 18,448 14
26 Opel Ascona 10,275 -29% 14,525 20
27 Lancia Fulvia 9,764 -70% 32,990 9
28 Renault 4 8,818 -26% 11,949 24
29 Citroen DS/ID 7,722 -2% 7,896 31
30 Opel Rekord 7,581 n/a 3,082 43
31 Opel Manta 7,183 90% 3,787 40
32 Audi 80 7,138 n/a n/a n/a
33 Citroen Ami 6,792 -47% 12,767 22
34 Autobianchi Bianchina 6,602 -43% 11,491 25
35 Fiat 850 6,377 -32% 9,428 29
36 Mercedes 220 5,478 -34% 8,310 30
37 Ford Capri 5,463 9% 4,991 35
38 Peugeot 504 5,080 19% 4,257 36
39 Peugeot 204 4,983 -29% 7,002 33
40 Peugeot 304 4,335 11% 3,914 38
41 BMW 2000 3,989 -24% 5,245 34
42 Renault 15 3,837 156% 1,496 58
43 Peugeot 104 3,816 n/a n/a n/a
44 Renault 12 3,389 -13% 3,890 39
45 BMW 2500/2800/3000 3,070 -16% 3,673 41
46 Lancia 2000 2,987 -17% 3,601 42
47 Skoda 100/110 2,729 14% 2,392 48
48 Sunbeam 1200/1500 2,430 n/a n/a n/a
49 VW 1600 2,397 0% 2,394 47
50 NSU 1000 2,133 -46% 3,940 37
51 Renault 16 2,017 -19% 2,479 46
52 Renault 17 1,995 n/a n/a n/a
53 DAF 44 1,954 -16% 2,337 49
54 VW K70 1,695 -7% 1,829 53
55 Volvo 144/145/164 1,631 29% 1,268 59
56 Fiat X1/9 1,578 n/a n/a n/a
57 Audi 100 1,576 -7% 1,692 54
58 Porsche 911 1,480 -2% 1,512 57
59 Fiat 130 1,456 -36% 2,281 50
60 Mercedes 280 1,447 n/a n/a n/a
61 Mercedes 200 1,418 n/a n/a n/a
62 BMW 5 Series 1,389 n/a n/a n/a
63 Austin Morris 1300 1,272 n/a n/a n/a
64 BMW 1600 1,212 -53% 2,604 45
65 DAF 66 1,101 -1% 1,107 60

Source: Quattroruote, many thanks to Andrea for sharing the data!

Italy 1973:

Pos Brand Sales % 1972
1 Fiat 781,205 53.9% 1
2 Alfa Romeo 123,503 8.5% 2
3 Autobianchi 79,806 5.5% 3
4 Renault 66,711 4.6% 9
5 Simca 62,118 4.3% 4
6 Citroen 52,272 3.6% 6
7 Ford 47,048 3.2% 7
8 Opel 46,920 3.2% 8
9 Leyland Innocenti 45,954 3.2% 5
10 Lancia 29,282 2.0% 10
11 VW 27,829 1.9% 12
12 Peugeot 20,268 1.4% 13
13 NSU 13,887 1.0% 11
14 BMW 10,607 0.7% 14
15 Mercedes 10,232 0.7% 15
16 Audi 9,339 0.6% 17
17 DAF 3,796 0.3% 16
18 Skoda 2,957 0.2% 18
19 Sunbeam 2,539 0.2% n/a
20 Volvo 1,717 0.1% 21

Italy 1973 most produced:

Pos Model Production % 1972
1 Fiat 128 417,688 22.9% 1
2 Fiat 127 343,443 18.8% 2
3 Fiat 126 260,402 14.3% 16
4 Fiat 124 213,609 11.7% 3
5 Autobianchi A112 106,579 5.8% 5
6 Alfa Romeo Alfasud 78,897 4.3% 13
7 Fiat 500 65,888 3.6% 4
8 Fiat 132 64,683 3.5% 8
9 Leyland Innocenti Mini 57,660 3.2% 6
10 Alfa Romeo 1800 43,680 2.4% 14
11 Alfa Romeo 2000 38,083 2.1% 7
12 Lancia Beta 33,233 1.8% n/a
13 Alfa Romeo 1300 27,048 1.5% 10
14 Alfa Romeo 1600 16,892 0.9% 15
15 Lancia Fulvia 14,252 0.8% 9
16 Fiat 850 11,039 0.6% 11
17 Fiat X1/9 9,052 0.5% 25
18 Autobianchi Bianchina 7,317 0.4% 17
19 Lancia 2000 5,146 0.3% 19
20 Fiat 130 3,597 0.2% 20

Source: ANFIA, many thanks to the UNRAE team for opening your archives!

Categories: Italy
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