Sweden Car Sales By Brand : 1955-59

The 1959 Opel Kapitan

The late 50's saw sales on the up as Europe was heading into prosperity. In 1952, just over 50,000 cars were registered but by 1959 the number had over trebled. It seemed the many smaller brands were now struggling and going backwards despite the good times. Borgward, GM US, Chrysler, Rootes, IFA and Leyland to name a few that fell back.

Volvo had been challenged by Ford for top spot in the previous five years and now VW and Opel/Vauxhall were the challengers. By 1959, Volvo had nearly a quarter of the sales and well ahead. Glas sold as the Goggomobil brand, although listed here as Glas. Unusual names dot the list and doing a search on the internet gives an insight to some good car manufacturers that didn't survive for various reasons.

Brand	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959
Volvo	25,017	26,268	27,911	31,151	39,029
VW	25,876	23,406	27,257	24,827	31,147
Opel/Vauxhall	17,198	21,691	30,915	27,856	29,426
Ford	16,341	15,667	16,767	16,879	18,100
Saab	4,516	6,427	8,261	8,186	9,495
BMC	7,455	6,749	9,121	7,926	7,712
Mercedes	3,228	5,552	6,485	6,840	7,521
DKW	3,424	4,173	4,683	3,026	4,240
Simca	1,581	2,421	3,441	2,878	4,111
Renault	1,216	1,340	1,558	3,256	4,009
Fiat	3,963	3,495	3,634	3,198	3,250
Peugeot	1,129	1,764	2,737	2,611	2,702
Borgward	5,123	2,762	2,278	2,082	2,324
Citroën	237	231	363	786	1,019
GM US	2,605	2,235	1,920	1,129	939
Skoda	65	675	620	329	568
Chrysler	1,687	1,241	905	650	514
Rootes	1,101	869	1,579	596	469
IFA/Wartburg	1,867	1,761	1,293	823	445
AMC	194	89	82	277	354
Glas – Goggo	35	153	292	331	235
Leyland-Std	1,947	1,281	637	565	227
BMW	275	222	278	245	219
Porsche	70	115	146	139	219
NSU				47	137
Studebaker	298	267	238	114	129
Lancia	1	4	50	109	118
Moskvitch	168	49	157	71	84
Rover	247	164	144	42	55
De Soto	303	274	151	50	2
Hudson	204	199	229	AMC
Other	376	180	215	210	215
Total	127,747	131,724	154,347	147,229	169,014

Data source: ABStatistik.
All other articles in the series: 1950-54, 1960-64, 1965-69, 1970-74, 1975-79, 1980-84, 1985-89, 1990-94, 1995-99, 2000-04, 2005-09, and 2010-14.