Production of the Ford Fiesta ended recently at the Cologne Assembly plant in Spain – now known as the Cologne Electric Vehicle Center – making way for the forthcoming Ford Explorer EV. However, over the past five decades, The Blue Oval has sold a whopping 22 million Ford Fiesta models, meaning that the subcompact will continue to populate European roads for many years to come, regardless. The Fiesta remains an incredibly popular target for used car shoppers in the UK, in fact, where it was the best-selling such model across the entirety of 2022 and 2023, and according to new data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), that was also the case in Q1 of 2024, too.
In the first quarter of the year, the Ford Fiesta retained its spot atop the UK’s used vehicle sales charts by recording 80,814 sales, which beat out the second-place Vauxhall Corsa by nearly 14,000 units – a huge gap, indeed. Rounding out this latest list are the soon-to-be-discontinued Ford Focus, Volkswagen Golf, Mini, Vauxhall Astra, BMW 3-Series, Volkswagen Polo, Nissan Qashqai, and Audi A3.
As far as the overall UK used vehicle market goes, it enjoyed a tremendous boost in Q1 after growing 6.5 percent to 1,967,923 units, which also marks the fifth consecutive quarter of growth, 16 straight months of increases, and the best first quarter of any year since 2019. Much of this, according to SMMT, can be attributed to improving supply and lower prices compared to the onset of the pandemic. However, electric vehicles enjoyed an even bigger boost – 71 percent growth year-over-year – as those types of vehicles begin to enter the used market as well.
“A reinvigorated new car market is delivering more choice and affordability for used car buyers and, increasingly, they are choosing to go electric,” said Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive. “To enable even more drivers to enjoy the benefits of zero emission motoring, ensuring both supply and demand remains robust is essential. Incentivizing new EV uptake and investing in a chargepoint network that is accessible, available and affordable to all will drive the nation’s net zero transition.”
We’ll have more on the Fiesta soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford Fiesta news and ongoing Ford news coverage.
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