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| 1979 Chevrolet Malibu |
US car production rose from 7.9m to 9.4m in this ten year period. However, this was the decade of GM as share rose from 46.5% to 57.4% and units made went from 3.7m to 5.4m. Ford only just grew numerically but the Ford nameplate fell. It relied on Mercury and Lincoln for the increase.
Chrysler and AMC went backwards. For the Chrysler Group Dodge and especially Plymouth slumped but the Chrysler nameplate grew strongly. As for AMC, it was losing money on its cars but being saved by it's Jeep division, whose sales don't count here as cars so do not appear below. However, AMC was struggling to compete and the 1980's would see changes.
The figures below are in thousands so you have to add three zeros.
| Year | GM | Ford | Chrys | AMC | Total | |
| 1970 | 3,681 | 2,480 | 1,483 | 276 | 7,920 | |
| 1971 | 3,725 | 2,482 | 1,440 | 245 | 7,892 | |
| 1972 | 4,837 | 2,783 | 1,555 | 258 | 9,433 | |
| 1973 | 5,548 | 2,964 | 1,799 | 392 | 10,703 | |
| 1974 | 4,232 | 2,678 | 1,349 | 432 | 8,691 | |
| 1975 | 3,666 | 2,076 | 979 | 242 | 6,963 | |
| 1976 | 4,788 | 2,467 | 1,173 | 284 | 8,712 | |
| 1977 | 5,733 | 2,554 | 1,472 | 182 | 9,941 | |
| 1978 | 5,444 | 2,728 | 1,323 | 138 | 9,633 | |
| 1979 | 5,371 | 2,695 | 1,126 | 169 | 9,361 |
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| The AMC Pacer (1975-80) was wide for a small car |
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