Longest-running automotive model name

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Emohawk
How'd you come to that conclusion? Was it really made before '35?
If so, and if it has been officially termed 'beetle' that whole time, then it would beat out the Suburban.
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The Beetle is only called "Beetle" in the U.S. and sunbequently in other English-speaking countries. Before I believe it was just called Volkswagen.
 
I'm pretty sure Volkswagen wasn't around in the early-mid '30's. Hitler was the one who introduced Volkwagen, in a ploy to gain support. If he had really started it in the early-mid 1930's, then he'd be a pretty young, rich guy. I think Volkwagen released the first pre-production cars in 1939, which would then make it not the longest standing name in automotive history.
 
Emohawk
How'd you come to that conclusion? Was it really made before '35?
If so, and if it has been officially termed 'beetle' that whole time, then it would beat out the Suburban.
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Quick_Nick
The 1934 NSU Type 32 prototype was nicknamed the beetle. It has that name to this day. BTW, Ferdinand Porsche is a total genius.
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If that doesn't count then just ignor me :).
 
The Suburban was sold to the U.S. government in '33 and '34, so whether or not you consider the Beetle prototype valid or not the Suburban has been around longer.
 
Sorry L4S, I had no idea NSU was connected to VW/Porsche at all :guilty: . I thought you were just pointing out a coincidence in naming.

PS: As a young man, Hitler was a starving artist. This amuses me for some reason.
 
What?

Corvettes came in 1953.

But I think the Suburban takes it.

Now maybe we should ask....What manufacturer has been around the longest and still is today? But I'm that'll be answered in a heartbeat.
 
A heartbeat it is! I believe that to be the entity currently known as DaimlerChrysler.
The 'vette was eliminated back on page one for having a year (I don't know which) that it wasn't availible.
Edit: the two years significant to this post are 1885 and 1983. I'll let you decide which is which ;) .
 
That car was made by two people...not a company. :sly: Company...hmm...possibly Ford? did he have an established company in 1800's?
 
(going to stop making every second post now, I promise :P)
I don't know about the specifics, but it seems those two guys also founded car companys before anyone else (and then merged them).
  1. Mercedes-Benz
    1885 (invention of car)
  2. Peugeot
    1896
  3. Oldsmobile
    1897
  4. Renault
    1898
  5. Fiat
    1899
    Buick
    1899
    Opel
    1899
  6. AC
    1901
  7. Ford
    1903
  8. Rolls Royce
    1904
    Rover
    1904
  9. Skoda
    1905
 
Mazda's longest running model name was the Familia, 1963-2003. Capella was up there too.
 
PS
Why does Ford get so much credit then?
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The assembly line, and the sheer volume of sales.

In 1917 Chevrolet (before they became part of GM) sold about 100,000 490s. In 1917 Ford sold close to 1,000,000 Model Ts.

It took Ford less than 20 years to sell 15,000,000 Model Ts. The Model T held the title as the greatest selling car until 1972 when the Volkswagen Beetle surpassed it.
 
Actually the Mustang was the model to sell most during its first year. I don't know if it sold one or two million, but the previous record holder was the Ford Falcon. However, the Mustang's record wasn't surpassed until about 30 years later, with the introduction of...

anyone?

I forgot
 
Diego440
Actually the Mustang was the model to sell most during its first year. I don't know if it sold one or two million, but the previous record holder was the Ford Falcon. However, the Mustang's record wasn't surpassed until about 30 years later, with the introduction of...

anyone?

I forgot
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the corolla?
 
This is what happens when you make a statement without and backup: you're forced to edit your post. Anyway, I made the Google search for "fastest-selling car" and came up with the Mustang, so I guess I was wrong. As for the actual selling quantity, the Mustang sold 420,000 units in its first nine months, and 700,000 in the first year. And still holds the record for most units sold in a year.

Either way, the Mustang is the fastest selling car in a one-year period... The fastest selling car of all time is the Volkswagen Golf, with over 22 million achieved since the model's launch in 1974. It is ironic that the car which saved Germany’s biggest manufacturers from oblivion, a situation which evolved from over-reliance on the Beetle.
 
The Mustang is not at all the fastest-selling car over a one-year period, and anyone who believes that is stupid. Folks, car sales now dwarf those of the 1960s, and Ford moved nearly one million F-150s last year. Even first-year vehicle sales dwarf those of the 1964.5 Mustang's - consider, for instance, the Infiniti G35's popularity in the 2002 model year, or the 2002 Chevrolet Trailblazer's huge success.

The statistic I've heard regarding the Mustang's original sales success was that it sold more vehicles on the first day than any other model in history, nearly 22,000, though I've never attempted to verify that statistic.
 
You're basing this on raw numbers rather than percentage of cars sold for the era. I would imagine that of all the cars sold in the 60s the Mustang had a very high percentage which even by today's numbers is still very high. Now, the fact that there are probably 10x as many vehicles to choose from, it's more likely to be true. I don't know, I don't care to look it up, but I think the 60s Mustang was seriously popular in its day.
 
I may have found it, the longest running name. It may be the Chrysler Lebaron, introduced in 1931.

Here the link for confirmation (I breezed over it.) The Lebaron
 
LoudMusic
You're basing this on raw numbers rather than percentage of cars sold for the era. I would imagine that of all the cars sold in the 60s the Mustang had a very high percentage which even by today's numbers is still very high. Now, the fact that there are probably 10x as many vehicles to choose from, it's more likely to be true. I don't know, I don't care to look it up, but I think the 60s Mustang was seriously popular in its day.
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It was, and considering it as a percentage of all vehicles sold would of course allow the Mustang a significant advantage in this category. But this is not a kept statistic, nor was it stated this way - in fact it was stated the very way I responded.

Jetboys427
I may have found it, the longest running name. It may be the Chrysler Lebaron, introduced in 1931.

Here the link for confirmation (I breezed over it.) The Lebaron
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The goal was names that are still in existence; the LeBaron name was cancelled in 1995, replaced by Sebring and Cirrus (actually the model cancelled in 1995 was the convertible, which was replaced solely by Sebring; Cirrus arguably replaced LeBaron sedan, which was cancelled in 1994).
 
the vw beetle has the title of longest production run of a single model, no changes. except for cosmetic stuff like different windows and the addition of a fuel gauge :P

"beetle" is the name it was given by the western world when they saw it in the 70s, real germans in the 50s called it the "volkswagen (people's car) type 1". the way the beetle was invented is an interesting story, you can read about it on hitler.org

the vw type 2 is the transporter (aka: kombi van) and commercial (aka: kombi ute). i only know the vw type 3 to have ever been called the type 3. there is also a type 4 wagon which i'd never heard of until i googled for the production dates of the previous cars
 
M5Power
The Mustang is not at all the fastest-selling car over a one-year period, and anyone who believes that is stupid.
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I think you're in a desperate need for a really good attitude adjustment.


💡 I guess we'll have to call Ford, Britannica and most car enthusiasts and tell them that they're stupid, because M5Power said so... do the search, I'm sure you can spare the 0.15 seconds that it takes to do one, and actually do a little reading before posting something as superficial and mindless as the statement you said.
 
Superficial and mindless? I think he provided some pretty good evidence, actually. You haven't.


So what's the longest production run, then? Is there something that debuted well before the Suburban and was canceled only recently? Does the Suburban take that title as well?
 
Emohawk
Superficial and mindless? I think he provided some pretty good evidence, actually. You haven't.
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Saying that someone is stupid without corroborating evidence isn't mindless? Check the preceding posts before you make any statement like that and you'll see that I gave sufficient data to backup my claim, other than personal knowledge. I'm not even going to go any further into this discussion, since I'm not interested in getting banned or anything of the like and frankly, I think I'm too old to go into this "I said, you said" discussion.

We're still friends, he he :crazy:
 
Diego440
We're still friends, he he :crazy:
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Fine. Show me a credible site stating the Mustang's first-year sales total and I will be happy to disprove you. It's so obvious that this is impossible given the population explosion and vehicle sales explosions, but I'll humor you anyway.
 
In that first half-year of Mustang existance Ford sold 126,538 of them.

But by the end of the '66 model year they had sold 1,288,557.


If I remember correctly Mustang still holds the record as the car that has had 1,000,000 units sold in the shortest timespan from initial introduction.
 
M5Power
Fine. Show me a credible site stating the Mustang's first-year sales total and I will be happy to disprove you. It's so obvious that this is impossible given the population explosion and vehicle sales explosions, but I'll humor you anyway.
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(cracking fingers) OK, let's get to it.

Beforehand, some facts must be put on the table. First of all, for purposes of clarity, it is useful to note that Ford never referred to Mustangs as "64" or "64 1/2" models. These designations are the work of collectors who seek to differentiate an early '65 from a late '65, as Ford made midstream changes throughout the model year; therefore, the 65 model year spans from April of 1964 until the introduction of the 1966 model.

So here we go...


1) I found an article by Jeremy Clarkson (the Top Gear guy), and although it's an article based on his opinion, and not backed up by and substantial data, as car buffs that we are, I think he is a pretty respectable source of car information. You can find his article here There's a nice quote in it that says: "Even though [the Mustang] was only ever sold in America, it was the fastest-selling car of all time, a record that’s never been beaten." But still, I recommend you check the whole article.


2) The Automotive Digest shows a really nice graph (backed by the Detroit News) of Mustang sales from 1964 (where it sold 248,916 units) to 2004. Remember once again that the Mustang was sold in 1964 and 1965 as a 1965 model. The graph is here


3) In some short facts about the Mustang, the Detroit News further states that:
- Mustang sales reached more than 1 million units (an unprecedented level at the time) within 18 months of its launch.
- Ford has produced more than 7,745,907 Mustang cars in 40+ years.
- 1966 marked the best year for Mustang sales, with 549,436 sold. The worst year for Mustang sales was 1991, with demand reaching just 80,247 units.


4) The Detroit Free Press states that by the end of 1964, 263,434 Mustangs had rolled out of Ford showrooms, good enough for fifth place on the '64 sales charts. Ford added a fastback model and more options for '65. When the calendar rolled around to April again, the Mustang sales tally stood at 418,000, a new first-year world record. The beat went on. There were more than half a million registrations in 1965. And in 1966, production peaked at 607,568. This can be found here


5) For the actual production numbers of the Mustang, per model, you can check here Of course, that doesn't give you a sales number, but at the time there had been more cars sold than were produced, making it quite probable that every car produced had an owner waiting for it.


6) Lastly, according to a non-automotive website, namely Wikipeda, the free encyclopedia (that's what it's called), the Mustang is "the most successful product launch in automotive history"... Moreover, it states that "In its first two years of production, three Ford Motor Company plants in San Jose, Dearborn and Metuchen, New Jersey produced nearly 1.5 million Mustangs, a sales record unequalled before or since." The whole document can be found here


Proofreading usually requires three sources to backup a claim. I got you six, not because I'm an overachiever, but because I wanted to have sufficient proof. I sincerely hope you read the whole post, since I put a good deal of work into it. I think that after all these facts, the matter is settled. However, your thread started discussing the longest-running automotive name, and we ended up talking of production numbers. Such topics are fun to research and discuss, but in the future, let's not get into name-calling and just focus on the subject with a nice backup other than personal knowledge and opinions. Either way, it's always great to talk about cars.

By the way, did I mention that I did my college thesis on the Mustang's sales and advertising? :sly:
 

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