20 fun Ford Fiesta facts
As the supermini becomes UK's favourite car, here are 20 things you might not have known
LET'S play a little game.
Next time you go out for a drive, I bet you spot a Ford Fiesta.
The chances are you have owned one - or somebody in your family has.
My next door neighbour has one, there's four on my street, and now my 17-year-old son is learning to drive in one. Just like me in my white G-reg 1.1litre Popular back in 1989.
The Fiesta, launched in 1976, is part of the fabric of Britain and has just overtaken the Escort to become the UK's all-time best-selling car.
And 4,115,000 people can't be wrong.
Ford Fiesta has become UK's bestselling car
Here's 20 fun facts on the Fiesta.
1. Before being named the Fiesta, its working title was 'Bobcat'.
2. The base price in 1976 was £1,856, it is £9,995 today.
3. Black is the most popular colour (17%), then silver (15%) and blue (13%).
4. Famous owners have included model Nell McAndrew and Strictly Come Dancing winner Mark Ramprakash tangoed with the Fiesta with stunt drivers at the wheel in 2008 to mark the latest model's arrival.
5. Fiesta sales topped 4,115,000 this month - beating the prior record of 4,106,000 set by the Escort (from 1968 to 2000).
6. Lined up nose-to-tail they would stretch almost twice around the coast of mainland Britain.
7. Or stacked on top of each other they would be higher than 650 Mount Everests.
8. Last year's 122,000 UK Fiesta sales were the most for 18 years (139,552 in 1996). 65 per cent were Zetec models, 22 per cent Titanium, 10 per cent Style and three per cent ST.
Original 1976 version of Fiesta
9. The Fiesta was the top-selling UK car every month in 2013.
10. 67 per cent of Fiesta sales are for five-door models.
11. One is made every 86 seconds.
12. A 1.6-litre diesel model clocked 108mpg average over 340 miles to make it current champion of the UK's annual MPG marathon.
13. The 1-litre 140PS version on sale next month has more power-per-litre than a Bugatti Veyron.
14. It would take 80 modern-day Fiestas to produce the same emissions as one 1976 model.
Fiesta owner Nell McAndrew
15. The most expensive Fiesta is the world rally car built by M-Sport in Cumbria. It costs a whopping £350,000.
16. There was a Fiesta "Focus" edition in 1995 -- prior to the Focus being launched in 1998 as a Ford in its own right.
17. The 1992 1.6-litre Fiesta RS had a power output 130bhp today's 1-litre offers 140Bhp.
18. 41 per cent of buyers opt for the 1.0 litre petrol engine, 36 per cent for the 1.25 petrol and nine per cent for the 1.6 petrol; 14 per cent choose the 1.5/1.6 diesel.
19. Kent firm Crayford have built a Fiesta CONVERTIBLE.
20. All Fiesta engines are usually engineered or assembled in the UK.