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West Germany 1974: Mercedes ‘Strich 8′ surprise best-seller

January 26th, 1975 Leave a comment Go to comments

Mercedes Strich 8

* See ‘Read more’ for the Top 100 best-selling models! Thanks DC & Florian for the data *

Another trip down memory lane today, this time to West Germany in 1974, which is a relatively weak year in terms of sales volume at 1,662,384 registrations. For the first time since 1938, it is not a Volkswagen that tops the models ranking but a Mercedes! Taking advantage of a changeover year between the Beetle and the Golf, the Mercedes Strich 8 finishes the year in pole position with 140,127 sales and 8.4% share, up 2 spots and 3% on 1973.

VW Passat

The VW Passat flamboyantly takes the 2nd spot for its first full year of sales in the country at 132,988 units and 8%, ahead of the Opel Kadett, up 2 spots and 3% with 127,457 sales and 7.7%. The VW Beetle falls by 49% to 4th position at 121,511 units and 7.3% and is followed by the Opel Rekord (-42%) and Audi 80 (-39%).

Datsun Cherry

1974 sees the birth of the legendary VW Golf, landing directly in 7th place with 71,403 sales and 4.3% share. The BMW “-02″ holds well at #10 and 45,241 units and the Renault 4 still best-selling foreign model at #11 with 44,526 sales. The Renault 5 takes the 2nd spot at #18, followed by the Fiat 128 (#19) and Simca 1100 (#20).

Further down the ranking, notice the Citroen 2CV at #22, the Peugeot 504 at #23, the Datsun Cherry best-selling Japanese model at #49 with 4,829 sales, followed by the Datsun 1200 (#50), Toyota Corolla (#56) and Datsun Bluebird (#70).

Previous post: see the West Germany 1971-1973 article here.

Next post: see the West Germany 1975 article here.

Full Year 1974 Top 100 Ranking Table below.

Germany 1974:

Pos Model 1974 % /73 1973
1 Mercedes ‘Strich 8′ 140,127 8.4% 3% 3
2 VW Passat 132,988 8.0% 252% 12
3 Opel Kadett 127,457 7.7% 3% 5
4 VW Beetle 121,511 7.3% -49% 1
5 Opel Rekord 87,974 5.3% -42% 2
6 Audi 80 77,094 4.6% -39% 4
7 VW Golf 71,403 4.3% new  -
8 Ford Taunus 66,327 4.0% -26% 7
9 Opel Ascona 60,942 3.7% -37% 6
10 BMW “-02″ 45,241 2.7% -12% 10
11 Renault 4 44,526 2.7% -9% 11
12 Audi 100 43,396 2.6% -31% 8
13 Ford Consul 33,317 2.0% -43% 9
14 Ford Capri 29,289 1.8% 31% 22
15 BMW 5er 29,019 1.7% 23% 21
16 Ford Escort 28,236 1.7% -21% 14
17 Mercedes S-Klasse 27,178 1.6% -16% 15
18 Renault 5 26,959 1.6% 5% 19
19 Fiat 128 25,473 1.5% -32% 13
20 Simca 1100 22,564 1.4%
21 Fiat 127 22,149 1.3% -13% 20
22 Citroen 2CV 21,696 1.3% 9% 24
23 Peugeot 504 18,083 1.1%
24 Fiat 126 17,912 1.1% 66%
25 VW Scirocco 16,967 1.0%
26 Renault 16 16,212 1.0% -27% 23
27 Renault 6 13,897 0.8% -14%
28 Renault 12 13,656 0.8% -23%
29 Citroen GS 12,707 0.8% -8%
30 Alfa Romeo Alfasud 12,543 0.8%
31 Opel Manta 12,082 0.7% -54% 17
32 Fiat 132 11,768 0.7% 28%
33 VW K70 10,739 0.6% -62% 16
34 Simca 1000 10,151 0.6%
35 Audi 50 9,629 0.6%
36 Peugeot 104 9,391 0.6%
37 BMW 2500 / 3.3 9,200 0.6% -41%
38 Fiat 124 8,652 0.5% -33%
39 DAF 66 8,295 0.5%
40 Volvo 140 7,456 0.4% -25%
41 Ford Granada 7,438 0.4% -51%
42 Peugeot 304 7,206 0.4%
43 Simca 1501 7,173 0.4%
44 Peugeot 204 6,960 0.4%
45 Simca 1301 6,485 0.4%
46 Opel Commodore 5,710 0.3% -62%
47 VW 412 5,693 0.3% -69% 25
48 Autobianchi A112 5,155 0.3%
49 Datsun Cherry 4,829 0.3% 36%
50 Datsun 1200 4,525 0.3% 10%
51 Leyland-Innocenti Mini 4,316 0.3%
52 Citroen DS/ID 3,419 0.2% -38%
53 DAF 44 3,129 0.2%
54 Citroen Dyane 3,086 0.2% 14%
55 Austin Mini 2,792 0.2%
56 Toyota Corolla 2,769 0.2%
57 Renault 15 2,750 0.2% -44%
58 Fiat 500 2,284 0.1% -62%
59 Porsche 911 2,116 0.1% -42%
60 Alfa Romeo Alfetta 2,110 0.1%
61 Fiat X 1/9 1,956 0.1%
62 Seat 850 1,922 0.1% -35%
63 Chrysler 2L 1,917 0.1%
64 Renault 17 1,914 0.1% -61%
65 Matra Bagheera 1,866 0.1%
66 Opel Admiral/Diplomat 1,637 0.1% -68%
67 Skoda 100 Limousine 1,606 0.1% -59%
68 Lada “Schiguli” 1,423 0.1%  -
69 Toyota Celica 1366 0.1%
70 Datsun Bluebird 1,338 0.1% -17%
71 Mercedes SLC 1,332 0.1% -72%
72 Chrysler 180 1,305 0.1%
73 VW-Porsche 914 1,303 0.1% -71%
74 Chrysler Sunbeam 1,139 0.1% -58%
75 Citroen Ami 8 1,077 0.1% -22%
76 NSU Ro 80 1,062 0.1%  -
77 Alfa Romeo 2000 Berlina 992 0.1%
78 Toyota Carina 853 0.1%
79 Chrysler 160 802 0.0%
80 Polski Fiat 125p 769 0.0% -59%
81 Austin 1300 701 0.0%
82 Honda Civic 697 0.0%  -
83 Mercedes SL 688 0.0% n/a
84 Porsche Carrera 591 0.0%
85 Skoda 110 Limousine 545 0.0%
86 Toyota Mark II 531 0.0%
87 Austin Maxi 493 0.0%
88 Austin Marina 489 0.0%
89 Peugeot 404 433 0.0%
90 Alfa Romeo Spider 424 0.0%
91 Skoda 100 R Coupe 423 0.0%
92 Austin Allegro 382 0.0%
93 Datsun Violet 350 0.0%  -
94 Zastava Z-101 348 0.0%
95 Opel GT 322 0.0% -88%
96 VW 181 300 0.0%
97 Volvo 240 299 0.0%
98 Datsun 240 Z 283 0.0% 125%
99 Toyota 1000 231 0.0%
100 Alfa Romeo 1300 Coupe 217 0.0%

Source: Manufacturers, DC at www.autoweek.nl and Florian

Categories: Germany
  1. Miguel
    October 27th, 2011 at 07:26 | #1
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    TOP 15 BEST SELLING CARS IN GERMANY IN 1977
    1 – OPEL KADETT
    2 – VOLKSWAGEN GOLF MKI
    3 – FORD TAUNUS
    4 – VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT MKI
    5 – MERCEDES BENZ W 123
    6 – FORD FIESTA MKI
    7 – FORD GRANADA
    8 – OPEL ASCONA
    9 – BMW 3.16/3.23i
    10 – OPEL REKORD
    11 – VOLKSWAGEN POLO/DERBY
    12 – BMW SERIE 5
    13 – AUDI 100
    14 – FORD ESCORT
    15 – RENAULT 4
    9 -

  2. Miguel Figueira
    October 26th, 2011 at 22:01 | #2
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    The Alfasud was really a huge success from Alfa!

  3. mohamed
    October 26th, 2011 at 20:09 | #3
    Reply | Quote

    where is egypt septemper 2011 ?

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