UK Top 20 Models : 1975-79

I decided to include the Top 20 as I had consistent data for each year. The first sales figures column is how the best 20 finished in 1979. Any models below were also all Top 20 finishers between 1975-78. If sales didn't make the Top 20, then the sales figure square is blank.

Looking at the Top 10 first. Seven US brands and three UK ones made up the best selling models. Ford had five of them, BLMC three and GM two. Medium sized cars sold well, with the Cortina, Marina and Cavalier all of that category. The small Escort, Allegro and Chevette likewise were popular. The Mini and Fiesta were the mini cars and the Granada the only big car.

From 11th place down, Datsun had a couple of solid selling models while BL added four more. Datsun did get the Sunny model at 10th, the first time for a Japanese model and before any European models could achieve that feat. Chrysler had cars down the list but clearly for such an important market as the UK, this was disappointing. A few European models were starting to show themselves but their impact was still modest. Top 10 figures are coloured brown.

	Model	1979	1978	1977	1976	1975
1	Ford Cortina	193,784	139,204	120,601	133,959	106,837
2	Ford Escort	131,667	114,415	103,959	126,263	103,817
3	Austin/Morris Mini	82,938	72,617	60,337	81,107	84,668
4	Morris Marina	62,410	82,638	66,088	71,288	78,632
5	Austin Allegro	55,985	61,535	56,175	55,218	63,339
6	Ford Fiesta	58,681	68,723	40,934
7	Ford Granada	52,089	38,099	32,257	28,016	20,116
8	Ford Capri	49,147	31,642	42,816	36,098	27,678
9	Vauxhall Cavalier	46,517	55,373	41,128	29,762
10	Vauxhall Chevette	44,197	52,327	51,763	43,827	19,847

11	Datsun Sunny	31,665	37,923	35,257	30,444	28,264
12	Austin Princess	31,253	36,813	29,819	31,702	29,067
13	Austin Maxi	30,169	31,960	26,339	33,476	26,969
14	Chrysler Alpine	29,936	34,046	33,314	16,157
15	Rover SD1/2.0-3.5	29,756	31,669	17,187		15,280
16	Datsun Cherry	29,371	26,126	24,922	21,213	16,233
17	Chrysler Horizon	29,014
18	Renault 18	28,724
19	Chrysler Sunbeam	27,759	29,278
20	Chrysler Avenger	27,219	31,161	29,314	31,445	38,877
	Triumph Tol/1.5/Dol		22,529	24,764	30,197	30,119
	Fiat 127		20,137	16,881
	Vauxhall Viva			17,349	33,901	54,731
	Chrysler Hunter				20,232	28,966
	Renault 5				15,698	14,780
	VW Golf				15,521	19,069
	Renault 12					15,981
	Top 10	777,415	722,854	619,058	646,839	619,053
	% of Total	45.3	45.4	46.8	50.3	51.8
	Total	1,716,275	1,591,939	1,323,524	1,285,583	1,194,130

Data source: SMMT.

Other years in the series:
65-69, 70-74, 80-84, 85-89, 90-94, 95-99, 00-04, 05-09, 10-14.