31 March 2015

Simca Car Production By Model : 1947-59

The brand name Simca is an acronym of 'Société Industrielle de Mécanique et Carrosserie Automobile' or 'Mechanical and Automotive Body Manufacturing Company' in English. In other words 'Car Maker'. The company was founded in 1930's by Fiat, and all its early cars were based on Fiat models. The downside of that was export cars were not allowed to compete directly with Fiat.

In 1951 the first Simca not based on a Fiat was released, the Aronde. It's success led to Simca wishing to expand and consolidate. It so happened that Ford had a plant in France which they wanted to dispose of and Simca bought that plant in Poissy c. Paris in 1954. Along with the plant came the rights to make the new Ford Vedette model, sold mainly as a Simca.

In 1957, Simca brought out the large Ariane car with a small motor, ideal because the French government had introduced a heavy tax on cars with large engines. By 1959, Simca was producing more cars than either Peugeot or Citroën, and was second only behind Renault.

Here are production figures for Simca and below a brief model description. Only one model was made from 1951-53.


Year Aronde Ariane Vedette 6 Total

8 5

1947 7851 - - 3945 11,796

1948 14071 - - 4100 18,171

1949 15857 - - 11111 26,968

1950 26047 - - 5419 31,466

1951 42495 - - - 42,495

1952 69062 - - - 69,062

1953 61577 - - - 61,577

1954 92440 - 2335 - 94,775

1955 115643 - 42432 - 158,075

1956 133105 - 44788 - 177,893

1957 138064 14679 17893 - 170,636

1958 143543 35015 28223 - 206,781

1959 192424 26852 15947 - 235,223

Data source: Freyssenet.com

5/6: The 5 was a small car that was basically the same as the Fiat 500 Topolino. It had some advanced features for the time and was miserly on fuel. Production commenced in the 1930's and ended in 1948. It was replaced by the 6 which while still based on the Topolino, but was less similar in design. When it ended production, it was not replaced for the time being.

The 1955-58 Aronde

8/Aronde: Like the 5, the 8 started before the war in 1937 and was based on the Fiat 1100. This medium sized car came as a 2 or 4-door saloon, a coupé and cabriolet. Then came the Aronde with three models introduced during the 1950's, each progressing nicely in style.

Vedette: As mentioned, it was a large Ford model inherited with the Poissy factory. Designed in the US, it came with a small V8 engine. Some continued to be sold in some markets in Europe as Ford cars after the purchase of the factory. A second generation was released in 1958.

The Ariane model

Ariane: This car slipped just under the Vedette in size although also a large car. Production numbers look disappointing but I am unsure what was expected of it by Simca.

Summary: Simca was going well in the 1950's. Chrysler bought a small stake in the company in 1958, and that was soon to increase dramatically as Chrysler sought to establish itself in Europe. 

For others in the series, simply click on the dates: 1960-691970-79, and 1980-87

28 March 2015

Sweden Car Sales By Brand : 1960-64

The Ford Taunus P3 was produced between 1960 and 1964

Sales were growing strongly in the early 1960's. It was a good time to be making cars...for most anyway. Some brands were not growing very much if at all and many of them soon ceased existence. DKW, Simca and Rootes were a few that were not doing that well.

Volvo consolidated its place at the top, with the next four all doing nicely too. Vauxhall was contributing just under 10% of the total Opel Vauxhall sales. Ford Germany was now the larger supplier of vehicles, with the UK supplying about a third of the cars and the US down to a few percent only. GM US was a mixture of brands, led by Chevrolet and Leyland was almost totally Triumph. Rootes was mainly Hillman. Borgward had ended its run, although it is currently being revived I believe. There was some controversy as to why it failed but I won't go into that.


Brand 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964

Volvo 40,154 45,329 48,978 53,665 58,402

VW 30,791 34,871 37,016 42,656 45,886

Opel/Vauxhall 26,562 26,941 27,211 35,739 42,170

Ford 16,381 16,629 20,481 28,686 32,974

Saab 13,726 20,580 25,213 27,022 28,930

Mercedes 6,320 6,575 7,604 8,321 8,933

BMC 3,826 3,626 5,696 7,235 7,987

Renault 3,915 5,429 5,077 4,946 5,662

Peugeot 2,139 3,081 2,670 4,191 5,278

Fiat 2,582 2,927 3,486 3,647 3,578

DKW 4,080 5,350 3,944 3,764 3,354

Chrysler 919 1,735 1,793 2,399 3,001

Simca 2,272 1,735 1,617 1,647 2,790

BMW 578 596 686 1,308 2,060

GM US 917 1,185 1,389 1,369 1,755

Leyland 19 187 791 1,105 1,320

Citroën 764 753 508 656 646

Rootes 603 408 329 455 551

DAF 67 98 258 123 325

Skoda 153 653 661 600 298

AMC 187 184 234 295 287

Neckar



240

NSU 227 237 232 198 222

Porsche 241 183 111 154 216

Jaguar 81 153 210 207 212

Moskvitch 54 102 72 81 175

Volga 14 16 20 41 121

IFA/Wartburg 46 102 95 64 21

Borgward 1,834 1,055 72 3 1

Others 377 291 263 303 254

Total 159,829 181,011 196,717 230,880 257,649

Data source: ABStatistik.

All other articles in the series: 1950-541955-591965-691970-741975-79,
1980-841985-891990-941995-992000-042005-09, and 2010-14.

The BMC Mini MK I was ahead of its time

26 March 2015

Fiat Brand Production By Model : 2000-09

The Punto getting admiring stares.  

Trying to get production figures for some car makers is a challenge, but I managed to cobble this list together from various sources. It is better to have one source, so ways of allocating who made what is sorted are consistent. Sometimes a car that has insufficient local content is attributed to the originating factory. Getting data from two sources can lead to double counting. I think I have avoided that here.

First of all the list, then a light reference to each model shown. The number 739.8 equals 739,800 units produced. The total production figure comes from OICA. A lot of time went into the collecting and sorting the data, but for those who want detail of Fait by model it is probably unique.


Year Punto Palio Panda 500 Bravo Qubo Idea Linea

Uno Siena Brava
Marea


Stilo


2000 739.8 317.0 94.1 - 171.3 - - 89.0

2001 661.4 287.2 95.2 - 155.6 - - 48.5

2002 547.2 220.2 102.1 - 194.2 - - 21.1

2003 501.6 200.7 150.2 - 181.8 - 12.7 8.8

2004 427.7 257.3 236.6 - 116.9 - 61.7 4.7

2005 430.3 260.3 232.0 - 80.8 - 55.4 2.7

2006 577.8 303.6 262.2 - 58.3 - 63.0 1.9

2007 580.6 384.0 260.7 65.1 141.1 - 63.8 23.7

2008 465.7 368.5 247.1 201.5 104.8 13.2 44.3 23.0

2009 565.0 405.0 298.0 184.1 74.0 48.9 40.0 31.3

Tot 5497.1 3003.8 1978.2 450.7 1278.8 62.1 340.9 254.7


Year Doblò Albea Croma 600 Multipla Other Total

2000 3.3 11.0 - 236.3 48.7 92.2 1,802.7

2001 42.1 - - 175.1 50.4 58.6 1,574.1

2002 41.1 6.4 - 143.9 31.1 102.7 1,410.0

2003 34.6 18.0 - 115.5 21.7 74.7 1,320.3

2004 35.6 17.4 - 69.3 25.1 40.7 1,293.0

2005 36.9 23.4 25.4 54.9 29.7 50.4 1,282.2

2006 50.0 20.0 35.0 46.1 26.9 16.5 1,461.3

2007 44.7 18.0 25.0 36.0 19.8 44.0 1,706.5

2008 34.5 10.6 26.8 25.2 16.0 35.6 1,616.8

2009 23.4 11.4 11.4 10.8 9.8 17.2 1,730.3

Tot 346.2 136.2 123.6 913.1 279.2 532.6 15197.2

Punto/Uno: The Punto is a super mini model that replaced the Uno. It was introduced in 2003 and the Grande Punto in 2005. It is a good selling car.

Palio/Siena: These also replaced the Uno but for emerging markets. The Palio was a 3 and 5-door hatch and wagon, while the Siena was the 4-door model. It is proving increasingly popular.

Panda: This tiny city car was a series one model until 2003, when the second series was introduced. Production picked up after that.

500: It is a modern interpretation of a classic city car made as a 3-door hatchback. A retro model that has succeeded.

Bravo/Brava/Stilo: The original Bravo/Brava was replaced in 2001 with the Stilo, then they came back and took over from the Stilo again. They play the role of the small family car for the make. A disappointment for Fiat no doubt.

The Qubo leisure activity vehicle.

Qubo: It is a leisure activity vehicle made along with Citroën and Peugeot models.

Idea: This is a small 5-door MPV model. Not that strong a seller but nothing wrong with the idea.

Marea/Linea: The Marea was a medium 4 or 5-door family car that was replaced by the 4-door Linea in 2007. The latter appears to be a model for emerging markets. Production numbers are variable.

Doblò: A leisure activity vehicle, made also for GM Europe, at Fiat's plant in Turkey. It is larger than the Qubo model.

Albea: This is a car based on the Marea but for emerging markets. I thought of combining data with that model but decided it should have it's own category. Is Fiat happy with those production numbers?

Croma: The second generation of this 5-door large family car arrived in 2005 after a nine year break. I would have to call this car a 'belly flop'.

600: It was a small 3-door hatchback city car made in Poland. I am surprised they persisted with it as production dwindled.

Multipla: One of the weirdest looking vehicles of all time, it served as a compact 5-door SUV for Fiat.

Unknown: This figure comprises in part (up to 2006) models being phased out. There could also be a production facility I overlooked too. The rest would be production in China and India, the latter may have been insufficient in local content to have been classified to another nation anyway. I only have sales rather than production numbers for those nations as it happens. If anyone can assist with that, or wishes to ask anything about the data, please contact me by leaving a comment or on rdc1234@gmail.com.

Summary: Fiat specialises in small cars. They are difficult to make money on, especially when produced in Europe. Turkey and Poland are used as production sites to help in that regard. Latin America manufacturing is where the profit has been.

The Multipla. Lateral thinking gone berserk