There are cars we love, and cars we never want to see leave the dealership forecourts, and now a list of cars expected to go extinct over the next ten years has been published.
According to motoring insurer Adrian Flux, even the most sought after cars have an expiry date, with the clock ticking on some of the most popular cars of all time.
Flux used data from the Department for Transport to build a list of models which could be departing British roads, the calculations were based on the average change per quarter in the number of vehicles taxed (VED paid) over the last ten years. This allowed the insurance company to map out a predicted date for each model to be extinct.
The all-time list includes some real household names of the British motoring industry, including the Vauxhall Vectra, which was last produced in 2008 and has 97,738 registered on the roads, the Vectra comes with an extinct prediction of Q3 2022.
The Fiat Punto was still rolling off the production line in 2018, but Flux boldly predict that with only 123,919 registered in the UK the Punto could be dead as a dodo by Q4 2023.
Spare too a thought for the Renault Megane, which is still being built by the French manufacturer, but has a predicted extinction date of Q2 2026, which tells a story in itself.
The oldest car on the list, and clinging on for dear life is the Ford Escort, which was last produced more than twenty years ago, and with just 14,561 models left on the roads may soon be protected by armed-guards, as per the last remaining white rhinos.
“It’s hard to imagine British roads without this truly iconic car,” says the Adrian Flux website. “The Ford Anglia was a popular car, but the Escort took its predecessor’s mantle with aplomb - even outselling its stable mate, the Cortina.
“Ford stopped production in July 2000 - leaving it with a sales total of more than four million. Performance spec Fords - in particular the Ford Mexico - still have their admirers but we can expect there to be nothing of these cherished relics on our roads by the year 2023.”