France 1972: Simca 1100 best-seller

Simca 1100

15/09/2026 update: Now with Top 36 brands ranking.

The French new passenger car market gains 11.5% year-on-year in 1972 to 1,637,540 units. This is a new record. Renault (+18.1%) easily outpaces its home market to reach 31% share vs. 29.2% in 1971. Citroen (+1.5%) and Peugeot (+3.7%) are more discreet and fall to 19% and 18.2% share respectively. Chrysler France (+22.6%) surges to 11% of the market in 4th place. Ford (+9.6%) tops foreign carmakers at #5, distancing Fiat (+7.9%), Opel (+11.7%) and Volkswagen (+0.6%). Austin-Morris (+25.8%) and Auto-Union (+35.2%) shine below. Datsun (+620.7%) lead the Japanese charge but can only mister 0.2% share for now. It is followed by Toyota (+725.8%) also at 0.2% and Honda (-9.7%). Seat lands at #20.

Simca 1100

In the models charts, 1972 is a particular year for the French car market: the Simca 1100 takes the lead of the ranking for just one year, and it would be the only Simca model to do so. I have no detailed models data for this year so if you do please get in touch by commenting on this article.

Full Year 1972 Top 36 All brands ranking vs. Full Year 1971 data below.