In October 1984, Volkswagen signed a contract with the STAC (Shanghai Tractor Automobile Corporation), along with the CNAIC (China National Automotive Industry Corporation) and the Bank of China to form the Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive joint venture. This JV was established to build the VW Santana, in spite of its limited success…
The Dacia 1310 is the best-selling vehicle in Romania over the period. The 1985-1994 period is probably the most eventful in recent Romanian political history. The country witnessed the fall of Communism during the December 1989 Romanian Revolution and a shaky transition into democracy from 1990 onwards. As a result,…
The Iran Khodro Paykan dominates Iranian roads over the period. These are turbulent times for Iran as a country - the Iran-Iraq war would last from 1980 to 1988 - and therefore for Iranian new car sales. Starting at 31.025 units in 1985, the market logically falls for four consecutive…
I haven't managed to access official car sales data for Austria over the period, but in all likeliness the VW Golf should lead the ranking with a comfortable margin during the 25 years from 1977 to 1992. Three generations of the model were successively on sale these years: the 1st…
Opel Kadett * See the Top 100 best-selling models for each year by clicking on 'Read more' at end of post! * The Opel Kadett continues its perfect trajectory in the Netherlands and is the best-selling car in the country each year but sees its market share slip down through…
1966 first generation Toyota Corolla Launched in 1966, the Toyota Corolla takes the lead in its native Japan in 1969 and stays on top all the way through the seventies and eighties, spanning no less than 6 generations of the model and finishing up in 1990 with 300,008 sales, a…
Nissan Sunny * See the Top 10 best-selling brands by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Bill * From 1980 to 1990 only total sales figures for Greece are available, with limited information on the best-selling models. Popular brands in the country during this period were Ford (#1 in…
1973 Trabant 601 The East German car market was unique and totally different from West Germany. The most popular model by far and one of the most famous cars in the world, reaching iconic status after the Berlin Wall Fall in 1989, the Trabant dominated the East German car landscape…
VW Gol Launched in 1980, the VW Gol had to wait until its first restyling in 1987 to take the lead of Brazilian car sales. This is the start of 23 years atop the rankings... Over 5 million units of the VW Gol would be produced in 30 years! The…
Toyota Corolla * See the Top 25 best-selling models by clicking on the title! * Thanks to Rene I can share with you an overall Top 25 ranking for the eighties decade. No surprises on top: the VW Golf and Opel Kadett dominate with 182,780 sales and 143,361 respectively, but…
1983 Toyota Corolla After an interruption by the Ford Escort in 1983, the Toyota Corolla is estimated to have resumed its domination over world car sales for the remainder of the eighties. Two generations of the Corolla are on sale over the period: the fifth generation (or E80) launched in May…
1977 Toyota Kijang (1st generation) Annual sales volumes for the Indonesian new car market are available for the 14 years between 1976 and 1989. During this period, the market increased 146% from 72.438 units to 178.147, however the progression was far from linear. After a 187% surge to reach a…
The Proton Saga is estimated to be the best-selling vehicle in Malaysia over the period. Although we don't have access to official sales data for the period, we estimate the Proton Saga to dominate the sales charts in Malaysia from its launch in July 1985 and onwards for the remainder…
VW Golf * See the Top 25 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Rene * For Norway in the eighties I only have access to a Top 25 models ranking for the entire decade, not year by year. If you have more detailed information please make…
Toyota and the Corolla are the most popular brand and nameplate over the period. * See the Top 50 All-brands and Top 50 models by clicking on the title * The Finnish new car market gains 8.8% in 1985 to break an all-time volume record for the 2nd year running…