Cars that sold a million

The next best seller after the Volkswagen Beetle and the Opel Rekord is the Renault 4, with sales of over 5 million. The French firm can boast of several ‘millionaire’ models; these are, after the 4, the 12, the Dauphine, the 5, the 6, the 16, the 1945-61 4CV and the 8. This list clearly shows the success of all these models.
The first Renault ‘millionaire’ was the post-war 4CV, this, it is said, had an outstanding supervisor, none other than Ferdinand Porsche whilst he was still a prisoner of the French. Though ugly in appearance the first 4CV had two features that were very attractive to the public of its day; these were a small engine capacity and four doors.

It marked the renaissance of the French firm, under the new title of ‘Regie Nationale des Usines Renault’ , after the war . Accused of collaborating with the Germans, Louis Renault was imprisoned and died in jail. The 4CV was followed by the roomier and more comfortable Dauphine which, though its road holding was suspect, immediately gained the favour of the public for the same reasons as the 4CV. As the market leader , Renault deceived themselves into thinking that they could concentrate all their production on a signle model, as Volkswagen were doing. The decline of the Dauphine, which was possibly more rapid than had been foreseen, put the French firm in a very critical position. The danger that had been run led the new chairman, Dreyfus, to change the policy completely and to progressively put a large number of models into production. The end of the Dauphine was also the end, as far as Renault were concerned of the rear mounted engine (the first 4 had also used this arrangement) and, today, all this firm’s cars have front-wheel drive. Another great success is the 5 which was launched in January 1972 and of which nearly two million have been sold.

The Rekord was born in 1953 as a replacement for the Olympia and it retained some of its predecessor’s features. In appearance it resembled the Chevrolet of that year (the sides, in a continuous sweep covered the wheels, a technique known in America as the pontoon side; the windshield being curved and in a single piece). The main differences between it and the Olympia were in the suspension, the Rekord having ball joints and telescopic shock absorbers. Though it was roomier inside than the Olympia the Rekord weighed less than its stable-mate and this feature was much appreciated.

The new car received a favourable reception from its first appearance because of the space inside it and the feeling of strength that it conveyed simply by its appearance. The best reward for its designers was the fact that it was the first car built by Opel that General Motors imported into the United States (October 1957). In 1959 the range was extended by the addition of a 4-door version with a 1680 cc engine and in 1960 the body was restyled. The recent restructuring of this car on top of the earlier changes made in its appearance and mechanical modifications suggest that this car will remain in production for quite a few years. A version with a 2100 cc diesel engine came out in September 1972 and this important step has added to growth in the Rekord’s production.

The first British car to pass the million mark was the Morris Minor which was designed by Alec Issigonis, one of the brightest designers in automobile engineering since the war and the only true innovator in this field. He deserves this recognition for having got the Mini, the first modern car with a front mounted transverse engine, onto the road in a very short space of time. The Mini passed the four million mark on June 30, 1977.

Alec Issigonis was not a designer in the strict sense of the word but a ‘creator’ of cars (he received a mechanical engineering degree honoris causa after the enormous success of the Mini). When, because of the Suez crisis, the British Motor Corporation decied to market a small car with low fuel consumption, Issigonis held that this could only be achieved by mounting the engine transversely so as to take up as little room as possible. As this was the first attempt at producing a transverse engine in a block with the gearbox and the differential gear, there were some mechanical problems for users and to BMC itself (in the production costs). However ,it is still today the best example of a small car; with an overall length of 10 ft  ½in (3.05 m) it is capable of carrying 4-5 people. When the Mini appeared on the British market in 1959, Issigonis accurately predicted that its layout would have many imitators.

The Land-Rover has also had a unique career in the history of cars. Intended for mainly cross-country ues, in imitation fo the wartime Jeep, the Land-Rover has passed the million mark and far exceeded the hopes of its creators and builders.

The Citroën 2 CV and its close relative the Dyane (together, more than four million units had been built by June 30, 1977) car milestones in the history of the car. They were designed before the outbreak of the last war as apartan  vehicles, as a basic method of transport ( the then chairman of Citroën asked his designers for ‘an umbrella on four wheels’), and the 2 CV and the Dyane have fulfilled the roles assigned to them by the French company. At the opposite end of the range, the numbers of the DS that were built are impressive as are the numbers of the Ami 8 and the GS (the former went into production in 1961 and the latter in 1970). All the Citroën ‘millionaire’ models have front-wheel drive.
The first Peugeot model to pass the million was the 403, a sturdy medium sized car and many regret its passing (especially the Parisian taxi drivers). The 404, also out of production , holds Peugeot’s production record, followed by the 504 which is approaching two million. The 204 (which went out of production with sales of 1,600,000), the 304 and the 104 which was launched in 1972 show Peugeot’s belief in front-wheel drive. However, Peugeot has not completely changed over to front-wheel drive as rear-wheel drive has been retained on the 504 and the luxurious 604.

The Kadett has a singular history. When Opel decided to re-enter the small car market it was thought best to build a new factory which would be capable of producing at least 1,000 cars per day (one a minute in two 8-hour shifts). After various studies the choice fell on Bechum, an area in the Ruhr where the exhaustion of the coal mines had created unemployment and had left large expanses of vacant land. Construction of the new factory began in September 1960 and 25 months later it was ready for production. The Kadett, like the preceding model bearing the same name, was produced from scratch and engineers from Chevrolet were involved in its design.

The Kadett has also been remodeled several times though the mechanical parts have been left basically unchanged. It has occupied an important position in General Motors’ industrial strategy, as it has provided the basis for the creation of a universal car. It was felt that the market was turning towards small cars and General Motors have built the Kadett, under different names and with different engines, in Brazil, Japan, Argentina and in the United States. The common feature of all these modles, in their various configurations and under their assorted titles, is a wheelbase of 7 ft 10 ins (2.39 m).

The 124 was the Turin company’s first medium sized car to be produced on a large scale. Solid and spacious, with its 4-5 seats , it was intended for the family. It has migrated to the Soviet Union and it will presumably continue to be produced there for years though its production on the Mirafiori  assembly lines stopped some years ago. Fiat’s other ‘millionaires’, both transverse front mounted engines, are still in production; they are the 128 and the 127. The 127 is destined to carry on for some time, as it is now produced in Brazil as well. It is recognized as the precursor of the medium-small front-wheel drive cars such as the Renault 5 , the Volkswagen Rabbit and the Ford Fiesta.

The German and English subsidiaries of Ford have also produced highly successful models. It could hardly be otherwise considering the role played by the Model T in the spread of the car. As a group, Ford Europe is well endowed with car ‘millionaires’; the Taunus, of which nearly six million had been sold by June 30, 1977, is followed by the Cortina with three-and-a-half million, the Escort with more than three million and the Capri with more than a million. The Transit van had sold 1,500,000 units by June 30, 1977.
Vauxhall’s only ‘millionaire’ model is the Viva. Mo Mercedes model has ever sold a million and it is unlikely that one ever will. However, if the 200 series, which includes the 200 D, the 220 D, the 240 D, the 240 D 3.0, the 200, the 220 , the 230/4, the 230/6 the 250, the 280 and the 280 E and which were produced from October 1967 up till the end of 1976, it totaled then its sales reached 1,752,008.
If any industry deserves special recognition for the speed with which it has raised itself to the level of the world’s major manufacturers, it is the Japanese industry. Toyota has six models that are well past the million mark, these are the Crown, the Cressida, the Corona, the Celica, the Carina and  Corolla.
Nissan has three : the Skyline, the Bluebird and the Sunny. Bearing in mind that at the end of the Second World War the Japanese car industry was practically non-existent, the results that it has achieved are remarkable. It is because of such successes that it today ranks second behind the United States amongst the car producing countries of the World.