Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/02/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Andrew S Jordan wrote: (snip) > . Don't forget that the CL was a commercial flop. As the saying goes, > "once burned, twice shy" or something like that. I don't think so. According to the Leica pocket book, 65,000 #'s were allocated to the CL between 1973 to 1976 over only three years, or 21,666 units per year. That compares to a TOTAL production of the M4 & M5 of 21,020 over the same three years. Even if true CL production was only half of the number allotted, the CL out produced it's bigger M brother to the tune of 3:2 Although I am not sure of the exact figures, I do know that I see a lot more CL's than I do M5's and M4's. that I believe, was the problem. The CL almost certainly outsold the M series during those years, therefore endangering the M. Realizing that it was a shrinking market, Leica sensibly decided to kill the small camera to keep the M alive. Stephen Gandy