Brazil 1963: VW Fusca leads a pack of Willys-Overland cars

DKW Vemag Vemaguet

* See the Top 15 most produced models by clicking on the title! *

Today I am taking you on a trip back in time, 50 years back exactly to what models were successful in Brazil in 1963… If Historical Data is something you are interested in, you should check out the dedicated Historical page on this blog: it covers no less than 67 countries with data up to the 1940s for some! The complete Brazilian Historical Data page (30 articles) is here… Back to 1963 and at that time the Brazilian car market was still in its very infancy: it only took 38,259 units (a little more than what the VW Gol currently sells in a single month) for the VW Fusca to top the ranking…

Aero Willys

The second spot was held by a long forgotten model: indeed this period sees the success in Brazil of a few models produced by the American brand Willys-Overland: the Aero Willys, a 1952 model whose American production stopped in 1955 before the tooling was shipped to Brazil to be launched there in 1960, was #2 in the country in 1963 with 14,528 units produced, just above the legendary VW Kombi at 14,446…

Willys Rural

The Willys Rural ranked #4 with 13,214 units, ahead of the Willys Jeep at 12,392, the brand’s core skill, ranked #5 with . The Willys Rural was also very successful, ranking 4th in 1962 with 11,903 units and peaking at 14,899 units in 3rd in 1964. It would be renamed Ford Rural when Ford acquired Willys-Overland do Brasil in 1967.

Renault-Willys Gordini

A Renault-Willys joint-venture produced the Dauphine and Gordini in Brazil at that time, both models being quite popular with the Gordini ranking #6. Finally Vemag produced DKW cars under licence in Brazil between 1958 and 1967 with some success: the DKW-Vemag Belcar ranks #7 in 1963 (7,280 units) while the DKW-Vemag Vemaguet ranked is #8 at 6,101 units.

Full Brazil 1954-2012 Historical Data articles here

Full Year 1963 Top 15 Ranking Table below.