Sweden Top 4 Brands : 1950-59

1959 Volvo Amazon. A nice looking car for its day

Thanks to the good folk of BilSweden, we can have an insight into the Swedish car market back in the 1950s. Sweden didn't have a dominant local brand such as VW in Germany and Fiat in Italy. Therefore, the changes in positions in the top 4 are greater, especially that coveted top spot.

Ford (Germany and UK combined) started out top but fell away slightly as the decade proceded. Ford at the beginning of the 50's were mainly from England, with Germany, France and the USA following. By 1959, Germany had just passed England as the largest source of cars, with the US adding some units.

Opel/Vauxhall combined (GM Europe) did well although both brands were selling separately there during those years. That was not uncommon back then, as the cars were different. Vauxhall sales were consistently about a tenth of Opel sales through the 60s. I haven't included GM US sales in the OpV figure, and GM cars from across the Atlantic were very popular in Sweden as well.

VW was up and down, even missing out for two years. Local marque Volvo strengthened as time passed and was well ensconced at the top by 1959. The only other make to get into the top 4 was BMC (Austin 2/1 in sales over Morris).

Sales figures are in thousands, with a decimal place due to not too large unit sales. The extreme right shows the share for the top 4 and unlike other markets with a dominant local brand, their 50% in 1950 is very low. However, in that period the top 4 established themselves with an increasing proportion of total sales.

Yr	1st	Sales	%	2nd	Sales	%	3rd	Sales	%	4th	Sales	%	%
1950	Ford	10.1	16	VW	8.3	13	Vol	7.4	12	OpV	5.1	8	50
1951	Vol	9.3	25	VW	7.3	12	Ford	7.0	11	OpV	5.0	9	46
1952	Ford	7.2	18	Vol	7.1	14	VW	6.0	12	OpV	5.0	10	49
1953	Vol	14.7	19	Ford	9.1	12	OpV	8.2	11	BMC	7.9	10	52
1954	Vol	21.2	17	Ford	19.1	15	OpV	13.7	11	BMC	13.0	10	53
1955	VW	25.9	20	Vol	25.0	20	OpV	17.2	13	Ford	16.3	13	66
1956	Vol	26.3	20	VW	23.4	18	OpV	21.7	16	Ford	15.7	12	66
1957	OpV	30.9	20	Vol	27.9	18	VW	27.3	18	Ford	16.8	11	67
1958	Vol	31.2	21	OpV	27.9	19	VW	24.8	17	Ford	16.9	11	68
1959	Vol	39.0	23	VW	31.1	18	OpV	29.4	17	Ford	18.1	11	70

For others in the series, please click on the years: 2000-13, 1990-99, 1980-89,
1970-79, and 1960-69.