The most popular German cars 40 years ago ... and what has changed since then
In the second half of 1979, Auto Motor und Sport presented the most popular German cars in Germany based on registration figures.
The cover of the magazine naturally featured the VW Golf, which was the car ordered. It was joined by the Audi 80, the small Mercedes (W123), the Opel Rekord, the Ford Fiesta, the small BMW (3-series) and the Porsche 924.
Of course, these were not the best-selling cars in absolute terms, but the most popular models from each of the seven German manufacturers.
Nevertheless, the comparison with today is interesting. The mainstays of the range at that time are still important pillars of the range at Audi (now the A4), BMW (still the 3-series), Mercedes (E-Class), Ford (still the Fiesta) and Volkswagen (the Golf is still important) 40 years later. Only Opel has obviously slipped down a little, while at Porsche the SUVs and four-door models are certainly more important today than four-cylinder sports cars. For five of the seven brands, the smallest models were the most popular at the time. In general, the classic saloons that were still popular in 1979 have lost market share in all directions, and it would have been hard to imagine which niches and segments would still be served by cars in the future. Nor could they have imagined the diesel boom that really took off in the new millennium. And is already history again.
The life of buyers has not necessarily become easier over the decades with the proliferation of model series and, from the perspective of classic car owners, comparatively uniform standard saloons cause far fewer problems than a multitude of different vehicle types with correspondingly complex spare parts problems.
