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1978 in motoring deals with developments in the automotive industry that occurred in 1978, listed by country. The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles.
Vauxhall introduced a new top-of-the-range saloon and estate that was directed at buyers of the Ford Granada and Rover SD1. The Carlton was a rear-wheel drive executive car that replaces the VX1800/VX2000 and offered a more modern and attractive package with more refinements. It was built in Germany alongside the identical Opel Rekord.
Chrysler's financially troubled European division bolstered its chances of survival with the launch of a five-door front-wheel drive hatchback, the Horizon which was the first car of its kind to be built in Britain, similar in concept to the Volkswagen Golf launched in West Germany four years earlier. It gave buyers a modern alternative to the ageing rear-wheel drive Avenger saloons and estates which continued in production despite falling directly into the category of cars that the Horizon might be expected to replace. This meant that the carmaker was in the unusual position of offering rear-wheel drive saloons and estates as well as a front-wheel drive hatchback at the same time.
While the British Ryton plant welcomed the Talbot Horizon, Chrysler's French plant at Poissy produced the Simca Horizon. Aside the badge, the French version was identical to the British version. For French buyers, it replaced the ageing Simca 1100, although that smaller and more obsolete car continued in production.
The Chrysler/Simca Horizon was European Car of the Year for 1979.
Renault expandeded its range with the launch of the R18 saloon and estates. It replaced the smaller R12 saloon as well as some versions of the ageing R16 hatchback which was partially replaced by the R20/R30 in 1975. The R18 shared much of its mechanical design with the smaller R14 hatchback. The R16 would be axed the following year while the R12 would continue until 1980. It offered front-wheel drive in a market where rear-wheel drive cars like the Ford Cortina/Taunus and Vauxhall Cavalier/Opel Ascona still led the way in terms of sales.
Peugeot launched the first of its "05" generation of cars. The 305 was a stylish range of medium-sized saloons and estates which replaced the 304, although that car remained in production for another two years.
1978 was the 2CV's 30th year of production but the makers launched a more modern and practical small car to give buyers more choice. The Visa was visually in keeping with Citroen's individuality, but underneath it was mostly made up of Peugeot components. Most importantly, it gave buyers the advantage of four doors and a hatchback within a compact package, something that most other carmakers did not have as most cars in this sector at the time were available only as three-door hatchbacks.
Six years after its launch, the Audi 80 underwent its first facelift. The front end saw the most changes, but otherwise it was recognisable as the solid four-door saloon which had bolstered Audi's fortunes in past years.
Volkswagen finished European production of the Beetle although production continued in Mexico and Brazil. European buyers were still able to buy Beetles, but new models such as the Polo and Golf became the brand's market leaders.
Opel launched a new version of its Rekord range-topper which was built in West Germany and built alongside Britain-bound models that were sold as the Vauxhall Carlton.
The most controversially styled car of 1978 was possibly the Fiat Ritmo hatchback (Strada in the UK). [1] It ran along the 128 saloon, using much of that model's front-wheel drive running gear. The car would soon be famous for a series of adverts featuring robots on its production line with the slogan "Handbuilt By Robots".
Nine years after launching the Fiat 125-based 125p (sold in Britain since 1975 as the Polski Fiat), FSO expanded its range with the launch of the Polonez which made use of the same engines and running gear as the original Polski Fiat.
Nissan built on the success of its Datsun badged vehicles in Europe with the launch of updated versions of the entry-level Cherry and larger Sunny.
Lada launched the Niva four-wheel drive model becoming a two-model manufacturer a decade after the launch of its Fiat based saloon and estates. The Niva, however, is Lada's own design and was developed partly for military use but became popular with buyers looking for a cheap model with four-wheel-drive ability.
A hatchback is a car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to the main interior of the car as a cargo area rather than just to a separated trunk. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second-row seating, where the interior can be reconfigured to prioritize passenger or cargo volume.
The Vauxhall Chevette is a supermini car that was manufactured by Vauxhall in the United Kingdom from 1975 to 1984. It was Vauxhall's version of the "T-Car" small-car family from Vauxhall's parent General Motors (GM), and based primarily on the Opel Kadett C. The family also included the Isuzu Gemini in Japan, the Holden Gemini in Australia, the Chevrolet Chevette in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Argentina, and in the U.S. and Canada it was also rebadged as the Pontiac Acadian/Pontiac T1000.
The Vauxhall Cavalier is a large family car that was sold primarily in the United Kingdom by Vauxhall from 1975 to 1995. It was based on a succession of Opel designs throughout its production life, during which it was built in three incarnations. The first generation of Cavalier, launched in 1975 and produced until 1981, was Vauxhall's version of the General Motors 'U-Car' - essentially an Opel Ascona B/ Opel Manta with a few minor visual differences.
The European Car of the Year (ECOTY) award is an international Car of the Year award established in 1964 by a collective of automobile magazines from different countries in Europe. The current organising companies of the award are Auto (Italy), Autocar, Autopista (Spain), Autovisie (Netherlands), L'Automobile Magazine (France), Stern (Germany) and Vi Bilägare (Sweden).
The Ford Orion is a small family car that was produced by Ford Europe from 1983 until 1993. A total of 3,534,239 units were sold during the car's ten-year production life.
The Talbot Horizon is a compact hatchback that was designed by Chrysler Europe and was produced from 1978 to 1987 under the Simca, Chrysler and Talbot nameplates. The successor to both the Simca 1100 and Hillman Avenger, the Horizon adopted a front-wheel drive, transverse-engine layout.
The Simca 1307 is a large family car produced by Chrysler Europe and subsequently PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1975 to 1986. Codenamed 'C6' in development, the car was styled in the United Kingdom by Roy Axe and his team at Whitley, and the car was engineered by Simca at Poissy in France.
Chrysler Europe was the American automotive company Chrysler's operations in Europe from 1967 through 1978. It was formed from the merger of the French Simca, British Rootes and Spanish Barreiros companies. In 1978, Chrysler divested these operations to PSA Peugeot Citroën.
The Peugeot 305 is a medium-sized car produced by the French automaker Peugeot from 1977 to 1989. It was offered as a four-door saloon, five-door estate, and as a three-door van derivative.
The Simca 1100 are a series of French compact family cars – mainly C-segment hatchbacks, but also a compact wagon and popular delivery vans – built for over 15 years by French car-maker Simca, from 1967 through 1982/1985. There was even a very early 'hot hatchback', and a family cross-over: the Matra Simca Rancho. The hatchbacks were replaced by the Simca-Talbot Horizon.
The C-segment is the 3rd category of the European segments for passenger cars and is described as "medium cars". It is equivalent to the Euro NCAP "small family car" size class, and the compact car category in the United States.
1980 in motoring deals with developments in the automotive industry that occurred in 1980, listed by country. The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles.
1981 in motoring deals with developments in the automotive industry that occurred in 1981, listed by country. The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles.
1982 in motoring includes developments in the automotive industry throughout 1982 by various automobile manufacturers, grouped by country.
1983 in motoring deals with developments in the automotive industry throughout 1983 by various automobile manufacturers, grouped by country. The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles, and is one of the Earth's most important economic sectors by revenue.
1984 in motoring deals with developments in the automotive industry throughout 1984 by various automobile manufacturers, grouped by country. The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles, and is one of the Earth's most important economic sectors by revenue. The first practical automobile with a petrol engine was built by Karl Benz in 1885 in Mannheim, Germany.
1992 in motoring includes developments in the automotive industry that occurred throughout the year 1992 by various automobile manufacturers, grouped by country. The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles.
This article 1993 in motoring deals with developments in the automotive industry that occurred throughout the year 1993 by various automobile manufacturers, grouped by country. The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles.
1979 in motoring deals with developments in the automotive industry that occurred in 1979, listed by country. The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles.
France was a pioneer in the automotive industry and is the 11th-largest automobile manufacturer in the world by 2015 unit production and the third-largest in Europe. It had consistently been the 4th-largest from the end of World War II up to 2000. It is 16% of sales of French manufactured products.