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UK 1998: Ford Fiesta leads, Escort leaves, Focus arrives

January 28th, 1999 Leave a comment Go to comments

Ford Fiesta

* See the Top 30 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Florian *

In 1998 no less than four Fords flirted with the title of UK’s best-selling car. The Ford Escort made the most of its last year of life and even climbed back on top of the ranking during the First Half of the year, but it is the Ford Fiesta that finished the year on top for the third time in a row with 116,110 sales (-3%) vs. 113,560 for the Escort.

Ford Escort

The Ford Mondeo stayed strong throughout the year and finished it at #3 with 99,729 units (-7%), while the Ford Focus, a bold Escort replacement, was off to a flying start during the last 3 months of the year and sold 8,571 units in total. The 3 usual Vauxhalls follow: the Vectra (-1%), Astra (-9%) and Corsa (-5%). The Peugeot 306 continues its impressive journey in the UK models ranking, beating its volume record 5 years after its original launch and breaking the foreign model annual volume record for the fourth year in a row at 70,169 sales and #7.

Ford Focus

In fact the entire Top 10 is absolutely identical to 1997′s, a very rare feat. 1998 is the last year Rover managed to place at least one model within the annual Top 10: the Rover 200 is #9 and the Rover 400 is #10. The Fiat Punto is up 4 spots and 15% to #11, the Renault Megane is up 6 ranks and 56% to #16 and 47,890 sales, while the VW Passat (#24), Mercedes C Class (#25), Toyota Avensis (#26) and Corolla (#28) all break into the Top 30.

Full Year 1998 Top 30 and 6 + 10 months Top 10 Ranking Tables below.

UK Full Year 1998:

Pos Model 1998 /97 1997 Pos
1 Ford Fiesta 116,110 -3% 119,471 1
2 Ford Escort 113,560 0% 113,522 2
3 Ford Mondeo 99,729 -7% 107,239 3
4 Vauxhall Vectra 92,719 -1% 93,778 4
5 Vauxhall Astra 81,494 -9% 89,537 5
6 Vauxhall Corsa 75,673 -5% 79,898 6
7 Peugeot 306 70,169 5% 66,888 7
8 Rover 200 64,928 4% 62,365 8
9 Rover 400 57,318 -7% 61,913 9
10 Renault Clio 57,231 -1% 58,033 10
11 Fiat Punto 52,159 15% 45,551 14
12 Peugeot 106 51,458 3% 50,069 12
13 Nissan Micra 48,757 14% 42,858 15
14 VW Polo 48,402 -14% 56,235 11
15 Peugeot 406 48,242 2% 47,395 13
16 Renault Mégane 47,890 56% 30,700 22
17 VW Golf 42,354 6% 39,986 18
18 Citroen Saxo 38,916 6% 36,855 19
19 BMW 3 Series 37,219 -8% 40,312 17
20 Honda Civic 36,791 1% 36,600 20
21 Ford Ka 36,508 24% 29,350 23
22 Renault Scénic 35,108 30% 27,000 24
23 Renault Laguna 32,055 -21% 40,324 16
24 VW Passat (e) 32,000 n/a n/a n/a
25 Mercedes C Class (e) 26,300 n/a n/a n/a
26 Toyota Avensis 25,298 5598% 444 n/a
27 Nissan Primera 23,472 -12% 26,800 25
28 Toyota Corolla 22,572 48% 15,294 n/a
29 Audi A4 (e) 22,500 -9% 24,600 26
30 Volvo S40/V40 21,991 9% 20,200 30

UK 1st Half 1998:

Pos Model H1 1998 % Jun-98 % Pos
1 Ford Escort 62,262 5.5% 10,000 5.9% 1
2 Ford Fiesta 61,942 5.4% 9,600 5.7% 3
3 Ford Mondeo 53,658 4.7% 9,700 5.7% 2
4 Vauxhall Vectra 50,016 4.4% 7,000 4.1% 4
5 Renault Megane 45,434 4.0% 5,500 3.2% 8
6 Vauxhall Corsa 37,663 3.3% 5,700 3.4% 7
7 Peugeot 306 37,251 3.3% 6,300 3.7% 5
8 Vauxhall Astra 36,940 3.2% 4,900 2.9% 9
9 Rover 200 32,694 2.9% 4,700 2.8% 10
10 Rover 400 30,181 2.7% 6,200 3.7% 6

UK 10 months 1998:

Pos Model 10m 1998
1 Ford Escort+Focus 108,300
2 Ford Fiesta 103,800
3 Ford Mondeo 90,600
4 Vauxhall Vectra 83,000
5 Renault Megane 75,000
6 Vauxhall Astra 69,000
7 Vauxhall Corsa 67,000
8 Peugeot 306 64,000
9 Rover 200 56,000
10 Rover 400 52,000

Source: SMMT, Wikipedia, Manufacturers.

Many thanks to Florian for sharing the data!

(e): estimate

Categories: UK
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