Schleich tells us that in 1983, when the Wall Street Journal wrote that the smurfs were the "Toy of the year", they were producing smurfs in various locations in South America, Europe and Asia.
1983, which was the peak for the smurfs( worldwide), I believe. Schleich probably started making them then in late 1981, or maybe closer to 1982, in South America??
What would you guess??
When looking at the molds made I would guess 1981/1982 could be correct??
Also the fact that the smurfs started to be sold in US 1979 and then rapidly increased in populairity, tells us that Schleich probably soon after that introduced them in many other countries("riding the wave"?).