Germany 1964-1966: VW 1500 and Ford 17M/20M shine

Ford 20M

* See ‘Read more’ for the 1964-66 Rankings – many thanks to Florian for the data! *

The German car market is up 6% in 1964 at 1,342,980 registrations, passes the 1.5 million mark for the very first time at 1,517,564 units in 1965 (+13%) but drops 1% in 1966 at 1,506,124 sales. The VW Beetle is of course in the lead all along at 19.2% share in 64, 21.7% in 65 and 18.1% in 66, peaking at 328,640 units in 65.

VW 1500

The Opel Rekord continues to progress at 173,228 sales in 64 and 179,898 in 65 but drops to 161,786 and #5 in 66. The VW 1500/1600 reaches the peak of its career over the period at 108,187 units and #3 in 64, 121,251 and #5 in 65 and 136,826 and #5 in 66.

Opel Kadett

The Opel Kadett improves every single year: 107,135 sales in 64, 131,129 in 65 and 149,567 and 9.9% share in 66. The Ford 17M/20M ranks 5th in 64 at 94,695 units, then totally takes off in 65 at 178,318 sales and 11.8% share in 3rd place before climbing to 2nd position in 66 at 163,522 units and 10.9%.

Opel Rekord

The Ford 12M is stable throughout the period at #6, ahead of the Mercedes W110 and NSU Prinz. In 1965, notice the BMW 1500/1800 up to #8, the Fiat 850 up to #9 and the NSU 1000 up to #11.

Full 1964 Top 25, 1965 Top 20 and 1966 Top 10 Ranking Tables below.