1979 Dacia 1310 In August 1969, Dacia launches the 1300, a rebadged Renault 12 that would dominate car sales in Romania for more than three decades with a market share of around 65 to 80%, in effect moulding the country's car landscape. It is relaunched as the 1310 in 1979.…
Hindustan Ambassador The Hindustan Ambassador, or Amby, is based on the 1956 Morris Oxford III and was launched in India in 1957. Although the Oxford III only lived for three years (1956-1959), the Ambassador was in production for a whopping 56 years from 1958 to 2014 with few modifications. By…
We are now able to fill a significant hole in our New Zealand Historical Data with the learning that the locally assembled Ford Cortina was the best-seller here between 1977 and 1983 with over 100,000 assembled in total during that period. Many thanks to Ricardo Acosta Antunez for the tip.
Renault 5 I have no data for this period, however the fact that the Renault 5 lodged its record volume and shere in France in 1980 at 299,000 units and 16%, that it ranked #2 worldwide that year below just the Toyota Corolla, and that based on the information I…
Ford Cortina * See the Top 15 best-selling models by clicking on 'Read more' at end of post! * Helped by a facelift in 1979, the Ford Cortina leads the British car market in 1980 with 190,281 sales and in 1981 with 159,804. Ford monopolises the podium both years with…
1978 Holden Commodore VB * See the Commodore and Falcon production figures by clicking on the title! * Holden launches the Commodore in November 1978 and installs the new nameplate at the #1 spot in the Australian market as soon as 1979. The Commodore will end up being Holden's most…
Mercedes W123 * See 'Read more' for the Top 100 best-selling models! Thanks Florian for the data * It's an excellent year for Mercedes with the W123 interrupting the VW Golf reign after 5 years on top with 202,252 sales vs. 200,892 for the Golf. 1980 would be the last…
Datsun is the best-selling brand and the Cherry is the best-selling model in Finland in 1980. * See the Top 50 All-brands and Top 50 models by clicking on the title * New car sales in Finland gain 3.9% year-on-year in 1980 to 103.184 units, and Datsun takes off to…
1980 Toyota Corolla The oldest official world models ranking I could access dates back from 1980. It shows how clearly the Toyota Corolla dominates world sales. With almost 775,000 units sold around the world that year, it has an advance of more than 250,000 units over the #2, the Renault…
Renault 12 * Many thanks to Bruno for making this post possible! * After being interrupted by the Ford Falcon in 1979, the Renault 12 is the best-selling model in Argentina in 1980 for the 4th time in the last 5 years and in total.
Renault 5 (I couldn't find a proper picture of the 4-door version!) * See the Top 20 best-selling models by clicking on 'Read more' at end of post! * French consumers bought 1,873,202 new cars in 1980. Helped by the launch of the 4 door version in July 1979, the…
VW Brasilia VW Fusca production in Brazil peaked at over 250,000 units in 1972 but has been slowing down since. In 1977, the drop accelerates to -22% at 161,004 units or 166,828 sales. This puts the Fusca's best selling car title under threat by another VW star: the Brasilia. In…
Ford Fiesta Renault 5 Seat Ritmo 560,000 new cars found a buyer in Spain in 1980, and two models dominate the ranking this year: the Ford Fiesta is on top with 56,900 sales and 10.2% share, just above the Renault 5 at 55,120 units and 9.9%. The Seat Ritmo rounds…
1980-1981 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais There is conflicting information about the best-selling model in the US in 1980. Car and Driver affirms the Oldsmobile Cutlass is on top of the overall US models ranking with 469.573 sales. Another source places the Chevrolet Citation in pole position with 374.706 sales just above…
Datsun Stanza * See 'Read more' for the Top 10 best-selling models, many thanks to Miguel for the data! * From 1980 onwards, Japanese models are really dominant in South Africa. Nissan/Datsun sells the Nissan Violet as the Datsun Stanza in the country and leads the models ranking this year.…