Much more difficult for some nations than for others, of course. During the immediate postwar years in America, for example, manufacturers could sell anything with wheels - and did. In England, the mantra was "Export or die." In Germany, as you correctly pointed out, the clientele for automobiles was limited at best. In spite of some achingly beautiful cars like Albrecht Goertze's 507, BMW's offerings were cars that Americans WOULDN'T buy, and Germans COULDN'T buy. As I said, it's amazing that they survived - and auto enthusiasts worldwide are so glad that they did!
The after-war years were difficult for everyone, BMW was one of the rare car-builders allowed to continue that activity, but the customers were ... just too poor or too rich. BMW had no real capital to develop new models, and sold what they had before the war, and that Italian license they expected to be a large market. At least ten big years were needed to come back to a reasonable market.
Until they finally arrived at the compact high-performance sedans that became their specialty, BMW made a series of questionable marketing decisions that cost them dearly. It really is amazing that they survived.
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