For European automakers the statistics were downright chilling. Though 1962 was a year of booming auto sales in the U.S., imported cars failed to share in the fun. Their U.S. sales fell from 379,000 in 1961 to an estimated 330,000 last year. Their share of the U.S. auto market was a bare 5%, less than half what it was in 1959.
Only a handful of foreign automakers succeeded in bucking this trend. Volkswagen, the No. 1 import, increased its sales from 203,000 to 225,000. More surprising was the performance of Britain's Standard-Triumph, which increased its sales 50%, from 12,000 to 18,000 cars,...
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