Ford Fiesta sells 4 million in UK & Fiesta history in pictures

The 4 millionth Ford Fiesta sold in the UK (pictured) has arrived with it owner It’s 37 years since Ford launched the first Fiesta, and in that time it’s been the best-selling small car for 27 of those 37 years and the best-selling car in the UK overall since 2009. In that time Ford has managed to sell 4 million Fiestas in the UK, with the four millionth Fiesta – a Fiesta Zetec in Candy Blue with the excellent 1.0 litre EcoBoost engine – presented to its owner, Michelle Wardale, by her local Ford dealers in the North East today. Ford Fiesta production started in the days when Dagenham was a big builder of Ford cars, and the first 3 million Fiestas (bound not just for the UK) rolling out of Dagenham between 1976 and 2002.

Art Center Car Classic is a feast for the eyes

If you can only go to one car show a year . . .

Crunch watch Dec 08: the auto industry in crisis

By Tim Pollard and Simon Stiel Motor Industry 31 December 2008 14:05 Wednesday 31 December 2008• GMAC, GM's finance arm, said it would immediately revise its criteria for providing loans, after the US government bail-out of the General's credit arm. It will now supply credit for anyone with a score of 621 or more on the Fico scale, the scale used to assess Amercian customers' creditworthiness (Financial Times)• The news means that 80% of US consumers would now qualify for a loan from GMAC – which should improve sales in the depressed US market (Detroit News)• Chrysler is being lambasted for taking out full-page adverts in the American national press thanking the nation for supporting its auto industry. But critics point out this is a fresh waste of bail-out resources, as pages in the Wall Street Journal – one of the titles in which the ad ran – reportedly cost up to $264,000.