Big Three Market Share 1951/1952

[rowan782]

Not a historian, but I think Chevrolet and Plymouth had warmed over models in 1952, Ford alone introduced a new body shell? If so, does anyone have units sold or market share percentages of the two years? Wonder if Ford's new model attracted new buyers. thanks, stan

[Rusty_OToole]

Don't have the exact figures but Chevrolet was the world's best selling car with Ford in second place. Chrysler Corp had actually taken Ford's position as second biggest car company in the world, in 1941 or 42. But in the postwar period Ford pulled ahead. In 53 or 54 Buick actually outsold Plymouth to take 3d place in the sales race.

1951 and 52 was when Ford revved up their high powered sales campaign known as "the system". It was "system houses" that gave car dealers a bad name in the fifties for swindling their customers. It resulted in new consumer protection laws including the "Mulroney Sticker" or price sticker in the windows of all new cars. It also killed the sales of the independents. But allowed Ford to outsell Chev for 1957.

[Dave@Moon]

1951

Ford 1,165,000 (21.8%)

Chrysler 1,233,300 (23.1%)

GM 2,255,500 (42.2%)

Big 3 4,653,800 (87.1%)

Total for all 10 major producers* 5,338,700

1952

Ford 1,004,800 (23.1%)

Chrysler 952,600 (21.9%)

GM 1,801,500 (41.5%)

Big 3 3,758,900 (86.7%)

Total for all 10 major producers* 4.337,400

*GM, Ford, Chrysler, Studebaker, Nash, Kaiser-Fraser, Hudson, Packard, Willys, & Crosley.

Edited March 14, 2011 by Dave@Moon
added 1951 #s (see edit history)

[Rusty_OToole]

So Chrysler was still outselling Ford in 51. This was thanks to Chrysler's very strong presence in the medium price field. Dodge, DeSoto and Chrysler Royal and Windsor were all very popular.

Plymouth always trailed Ford by a wide margin. But the Ford company only had Mercury in the medium price field , and if a customer didn't happen to like the Mercury it was an awfully big jump in price to a Lincoln.

It is interesting to see that percentage wise, Ford and Chrysler are almost exactly reversed between 51 and 52 while GM holds steady in spite of a sharp drop in overall sales.

Edited March 14, 2011 by Rusty_OToole (see edit history)

[poci1957]

Interesting stuff Rusty, thanks.

Something we may be forgetting is that at this time automatic transmissions were gaining a lot of interest and GM pushed them hard. Alfred Sloan's autobiography specifically mentioned this as a business strategy for GM. Lots of buyers were probably interesting in trading for a new car primarily to get an automatic and Chrysler did not have them, much to their disadvantage. Todd

[Rusty_OToole]

Chrysler had Fluid Drive and I believe they were the first to make automatic trans standard equipment. But you are right, the GM Hydramatic, Buick Dynaflow and Chev Powerglide were seen as superior.

Looks had a lot to do with it. Chrysler products weren't bad up to 1948 but the new 49s looked like they were designed for no reason at all, in the words of one critic. GM had the latest styles although some of the independents, notably Studebaker and Kaiser had some advanced styles too.

Chrysler Corp was backward in this regard. They did not have anything really competitive until 1955. And their slipping sales showed it.

Edited March 14, 2011 by Rusty_OToole (see edit history)

[Guest my3buicks]

Don't have the exact figures but Chevrolet was the world's best selling car with Ford in second place. Chrysler Corp had actually taken Ford's position as second biggest car company in the world, in 1941 or 42. But in the postwar period Ford pulled ahead. In 53 or 54 Buick actually outsold Plymouth to take 3d place in the sales race.

1951 and 52 was when Ford revved up their high powered sales campaign known as "the system". It was "system houses" that gave car dealers a bad name in the fifties for swindling their customers. It resulted in new consumer protection laws including the "Mulroney Sticker" or price sticker in the windows of all new cars. It also killed the sales of the independents. But allowed Ford to outsell Chev for 1957.

Rusty, I could be wrong but I am pretty sure 55 ws the year that Buick held the 3rd place slot.

[john2dameron]

Okay, here are some production figures from the 1950's. These are model year figures; calendar figures would be slightly different. When looking at total production figures for the Big Three we need to keep in mind that GM was peddling 5 brand names, Chrysler 4 and Ford only 3.

1951 model year Ford produced a total of 1,356,342 units compared to 1,170,613 for Chrysler. Of course, GM led the way with 2,400,757. Production dropped in 1952, largely because production was somewhat restricted by raw materials getting shifted to military supplies for the Korean war.

In 1952 GM's production dropped from 2,4000,757 units to only 1,697,009; Ford dropped from 1,356,342 units to 871,061, and Chrysler dropped from 1,170,613 to 777,470 units. Individually Chevrolet was first in 1951 with 1,229,986 units, Ford was second with 1,013,381 and Plymouth was third with 611,000. Buick (4th--404,657), Pontiac (5th--370,159), Mercury (6th--310,387), Dodge (7th--290,000), Oldsmobile (8th--285,615), Studebaker (9th--246,195), and Nash (10th--205,307) finished out the top ten.

Then came the drop in 1952. Chevy was again 1st @ 818,142, Ford was 2nd @ 671,733, Plymouth was 3rd @ 396,000, Buick was 4th @ 303,745, Pontiac was 5th @ 271,373, Oldsmobile passed Dodge and Mercury to take 6th @ 213,490, Dodge was 7th @ 206,000, Mercury was 8th @ 172,087, Studebaker was 9th @ 167,662 and Nash was 10th again @ 154,291

In 1953 sales rebounded. The top ten were Chevy @ 1,346,475, Ford 2nd @ 1,247,542, Plymouth 3rd @ 650,451, Buick 4th @ 488,755, Pontiac 5th @ 418,619, Oldsmobile 6th, Dodge 7th, Mercury, 8th, Chrysler 9th @ 170,006, and Studebaker 10th @ 151,576.

In 1954 Ford produced 1,165,942 cars and Chevy 1,143,561 but for the calendar year Chevrolet was still first in sales. Plymouth produced 463,148 cars for the model year and Buick was right behind them with 444,609. This is the year Buick reintroduced the Century series and sales zoomed. The big news that year was Cadillac cracked the top ten with 96,680 cars built.

In 1955 things really heated up. Chevy 1st @ 1,704,667; Ford 2nd @ 1,451,157; Buick 3rd @ 738,814; Plymouth 4th @ 705,455; Oldsmobile 5th @ 583,179; Pontiac 6th @554,090; Mercury 7th @ 329,808; Dodge 8th @ 276,936; Chrysler 9th @ 152,777, and Cadillac tenth again @ 140,777. Cadillac took 9th place from Chrysler in 1956. In 1957 Ford took first from Chevy, Plymouth regained 3rd, Dodge took seventh from Mercury, and DeSoto swapped places with Chrysler.

In 1958 Chevy regained 1st place, Oldsmobile took 4th from Buick and Rambler jumped from 12th in '57 to 7th in '58. In 1959 Ford was hot on Chevy's heels, 1,462,140 against 1,450,953. Plymouth was a distant 3rd at 458,261, Pontiac outsold Oldsmobile by less than 500 cars to take 4th place, 383,320 versus 382,865; and Rambler moved into 6th @ 374,240. Buick, Dodge, Mercury, and Cadillac finished out the top ten.

That ought to be enough figures to make a person's head swim and my head wants to go to bed. Good night!