Autos: Retreat from the Record

When all the U.S. auto-sales figures were added up for the calendar year 1966, it turned out to be the second best year ever. This brought no dancing in the streets of Detroit, since the automakers' sales of 8,373,502 cars represented a drop of 4.3% from the record 1965 sales of 8,750,881.

At that, the breakdown suggested that good styling and merchandising can offset unfavorable economic conditions. Chrysler, the only big automaker to register a gain, sold 1.8% more cars than the year before—with its well-promoted Dodge Division leading the way (see...