Was Willys Overland number 3 in the late 20s behind Ford and General Motors?

[marcapra]

I read that with the popular, low-priced Whippet, Willys Overland was number three in the auto industry in 1928. I guess Chrysler would soon push them out of that position?

[paulrhd29nz]

I know that Hudson was number three in 1929.

[Rusty_OToole]

First Plymouth didn't come out until 1928. Whippet was very popular in its day but the novelty soon wore off. Hudson's Essex Coach was the first low priced closed car and had considerable vogue in the early twenties, in fact it gets the credit for starting the trend to sedans in place of touring cars.

[rons49]

W-O did indeed have the #3 top selling cars in the industry in 1928 with 315,000 vs Chevy with 1,193,212 then Ford with 607,592 Hudson/Essex was fourth with 282,203 just ahead of Pontiac/Oakland. In 1929 Ford took Chevy 1,507,132 to 1,328,605. Hudson sold 300,962 to Willys' 242,000. Of course, Chevy and Ford were lone makes, while the others were combined corporate models. This is one reason why the smaller car companies were subject to a disadvantage of economy of scale... the big get bigger and the small go out of business.

[Dave Mellor NJ]

I'm pretty sure Ford sold over 800,000 in 1928 and about 2 million in 1929

[Dave Mellor NJ]

Here is a list from a well respected authority on Fordbarn. http://www.plucks329s.org/pdf/studies/Model%20A%20Daily%20Motor%20Production%20Charts.pdf

[frank29u]

"The Plymouth Bulletin," Jan-Feb 1982, No. 182, page 16, Plymouth 4 & 6 Cylinder Owners Club, Inc. sourced "The American Car Since 1775, Automobile Quarterly Publishing" confirms Rons49 order of 1928.

Rusty is correct re: Plymouth debut in 1928 at #15 and moved to #3 in 1931 with the W-O-W to #6 and Hudson-Essex #7 by this year. Interestingly, Pontiac-Oakland was #5 from 1927 thru 1931, the last year shown in this publication. frank

[Dave Mellor NJ]

I just corrected the numbers on Ford's 1928 and 29 production. I agree with the order.