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.
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