UK 1996: Ford Fiesta edges Ford Escort out

Ford Fiesta

* See the Top 50 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Florian & STAC *

Helped by a light facelift this year, the Ford Fiesta takes the lead of the English market, up 8% to 139,522 sales, just above the Ford Escort at 128,760 units (-7%) and the Ford Mondeo at 100,725 sales (-15%). Launched late last year, the Vauxhall Vectra is in fact a new gen Cavalier, taking the Vectra name to be consistent with Opel. And it effectively replaces the Cavalier in the ranking, landing directly #4 for its first full year of sales with 88,245 units sold.

Vauxhall Vectra

The Vauxhall Astra is down 15% to #5 and the Nova is stable at #6. The Rover 400 breaks into the annual UK Top 10 this year, up 35% to #7. The Peugeot 306 is the best-selling foreign model in the country for the 2nd year in a row at #8, beating the foreign model volume record again at 58,316 units, above the Renault Clio at #9 and the VW Golf at #11. The Fiat Punto was #9 over the first two months of the year but settles to #12 at year-end.

Peugeot 406

There are 4 newcomers in the Top 30 this year, 3 of them being all-new models: the Peugeot 406 lands directly at #19 with 35,549 sales, the Fiat Bravo/Brava appears at #24, the Audi A4 ranks #25 and the Nissan Almera is #30.

Full Year Top 50, February and 2 months 1996 Top 10 Ranking Tables below.