Fiesta is the best selling car of all times in UK surpassing Ford Escort
Ford Escort was last offered in Ford’s UK showrooms 14 years ago and it was the most popular car in the UK. But the ‘best-selling car of all time’ crown has now passed to the Ford Fiesta. Ford has announced that it has achieved a land mark by selling its 4th million car in the 37 years it has been sold in UK, making it the best-selling car of all times. Fiesta has been the top-selling car in the supermini segment for 27 years.
It has become the best-selling car in the UK bar none since 2009. It’s an impressive achievement by Ford, and although the Fiesta is an awesome little car a lot of its success is still down to the image that Ford is ‘British’, but the irony is they no longer make a single car in the UK.
Ford Fiesta has come a long way through its life. The first Fiesta had a 950cc four-cylinder petrol engine which churned out 45bhp and managed 37.7mpg. It was sluggish and took 17 seconds to go from 0-60mph and its top speed was 80mph.
Just how things have improved, one needs to look at the latest Ford Fiesta which has a 1.0 litre 3-cylinder 100bhp EcoBoost engine with a 0-62mph time of around 11 seconds. A top speed of 112mph along with a 65mpg make it an interesting prospect.
There are no longer the cheap and cheerful entry-level Fiestas that roll out of Ford’s showrooms, it’s the better-equipped versions buyers want with technology and equipment. Ford’s Fiesta sales in the UK are dominated by higher-spec models: Zetec, Zetec S, Titanium, Titanium X and ST with just 10 per cent of buyers opting for lower trim. Fiesta has got cheaper too at the entry-point.
The entry-level Fiesta cost £1865 in 1976 which is the equivalent of £11,671 today and the Fiesta Ghia £2,657, the equivalent of £16,700 today which is almost exactly the same price as the very well equipped Fiesta Titanium X 1.0T EcoBoost 100. The Fiesta is now king of the UK car sales, and shows no sign of letting this crown go any time soon.