Belgium 1957-1963: VW Beetle on top, Renault Dauphine on podium

The VW Beetle is the best-selling vehicle in Belgium in 1957.

Thanks to one of our readers Christian Prabel, we can shed some light on the Belgian new car market at the end of the 1950s and the start of the 1960s with an exclusive Top 15 models for 1957 and a Top 17 brands for 1963.

As is the case in neighbouring Germany, the Volkswagen (aka Beetle) is the best-selling vehicle in Belgium in 1957, with a relatively comfortable margin of 3.300 sales over the #2, the Opel Rekord. The Renault Dauphine takes the third spot ahead of the Peugeot 403 and Ford Prefect-Anglia. The Renault 4 CV, Citroen 2 CV and Simca Aronde also find their way into the Top 11.

In 1963, it is shown that the domination of “the” Volkswagen doesn’t result in brand domination, and far from it, with the German brand only ranking #6. The best-seller is Ford with 35.000 units, almost 15.000 units above Opel, and that’s without counting Ford GB (17.290) nor Ford Cologne (16.724) ranking #5 and #7 respectively. Citroen-Panhard rounds up the podium 1,000 units below Opel and just under the 20,000 unit mark, with Renault 2.000 sales below at #4.

Full Year 1957 Top 15 models and Full Year 1963 Top 17 brands below.