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    This Was The Best-Selling Used Car Last Year. Ford Killed It Anyway.

    8 hours ago

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    The Ford Fiesta outsold every other used car in the UK during 2025 despite Ford killing production two and a half years earlier. According to SMMT data reported by Cars UK, 303,090 used Fiestas changed hands last year, beating the second-place Vauxhall Corsa by over 55,000 units. The Corsa managed 247,853 sales. The VW Golf took third with 226,082. Ford's other recently murdered nameplate, the Focus, came fourth with 218,962. The last Fiesta rolled off Ford's Cologne production line in July 2023. Ford's reasoning was straightforward: discontinue affordable, profitable combustion cars to force buyers toward electric vehicles that lose money. The strategy hasn't worked. Buyers keep choosing Fiestas in the used market because new car showrooms don't offer what they actually want at prices they can afford. The Fiesta dominated UK sales for years before Ford axed it. Between 2009 and 2017, it was Britain's best-selling car. Then crossovers took over and the Fiesta slipped to second or third, but it never stopped selling well. Ford produced millions of them. They're reliable, practical, cheap to run, and easy to park. For city drivers, first-time buyers, and families on budgets, the Fiesta solved real problems without costing a fortune. Ford decided that wasn't good enough. The company's electrification strategy required killing models that made money to invest in models that don't. CEO Jim Farley told investors Ford couldn't maintain profitability while supporting both combustion and electric lineups, so combustion models had to go. The Fiesta was sacrificed along with the Mondeo, Focus, and several other nameplates that had been profitable for decades. The used market response is unambiguous. Buyers want small, affordable, combustion-powered hatchbacks. The numbers prove it. While Fiestas dominated with over 300,000 sales, electric vehicles captured just 3.5% of the used market despite massive price drops. Used EVs sold 274,815 units total across all brands and models combined. One discontinued Ford model outsold the entire electric vehicle segment. That EV figure actually represents growth. Used electric sales increased as more early EVs hit the market at prices drastically below their original retail. But even with year-old EVs selling at 40% to 50% discounts, they couldn't come close to matching demand for a car Ford stopped building two years ago. Internal combustion engines still power 90% of used car sales in the UK. Petrol takes 56.7% of the market. Diesel accounts for a third. Plug-in hybrids sold 88,032 units for barely 1% market share. Full hybrids did better at 407,531 sales, growing 28.6% year over year, but that's still only 5% of the total market. SMMT CEO Mike Hawes spun the numbers positively, saying "a third year of used car sales growth underscores the market's resilience" and claiming "the record number of buyers making the switch signals growing confidence in zero and ultra-low-emission motoring." That interpretation requires ignoring that combustion vehicles grew faster in absolute numbers than EVs did, and that a single discontinued model outsold every EV combined. The Fiesta's continued dominance two years after production ended exposes the disconnect between what manufacturers want to sell and what buyers want to buy. Ford bet that removing the option to purchase affordable combustion cars would push customers toward EVs. Instead, those customers are buying used Fiestas while Ford's EV division loses billions annually. MotorBuzz previously covered Ford's $8.2 billion loss in 2025, driven primarily by its Model e division hemorrhaging $4.8 billion on electric vehicles. The F-150 Lightning was canceled after less than four years. The next-generation electric F-150 was scrapped. Ford's Tennessee BlueOval City factory, designed exclusively for EV production, got renamed and will now build gas-powered trucks. The company wrote down $19.5 billion in EV investments and admitted that expensive electric trucks "simply weren't generating the returns the company needed." While Ford was losing billions on EVs nobody wanted at the prices Ford needed to charge, used Fiestas were selling faster than any other car in Britain. The irony is thick enough to choke on. Ford killed a profitable, popular model to invest in unprofitable models customers don't want, then watched those discontinued models continue dominating sales in the secondary market. The Focus tells the same story. Ford discontinued it alongside the Fiesta, and it finished fourth in used sales with nearly 219,000 units changing hands. These aren't niche vehicles with cult followings. They're mainstream family cars that solved transportation problems affordably and reliably. Ford built its European success on them for decades. Then threw them away chasing electrification mandates and government regulations rather than customer demand. You can't buy a new Fiesta anymore. You can't buy a new Focus. Ford's UK lineup now consists of the Puma crossover, the larger Kuga crossover, the Ranger pickup, the Transit van, and the Mustang. If you want an affordable Ford hatchback, you're shopping used or you're not shopping Ford. That decision is starting to show consequences. Ford's UK market share has declined since the Fiesta and Focus were discontinued. Buyers who would have purchased new Fords are either buying used Fords or switching to competitors who still offer small hatchbacks. Vauxhall sells the Corsa. Volkswagen sells the Polo and Golf. Peugeot, Renault, Toyota, Hyundai, and others all maintain affordable combustion hatchback options. Ford walked away from the segment entirely. The company's justification was that crossovers have higher margins and that the future is electric. Both statements are true, but neither addresses what happens when you discontinue your volume sellers and the replacement products lose money. Ford's European operation has struggled since killing the Fiesta and Focus. Crossover sales haven't compensated for lost hatchback volume, and EV losses continue mounting. The used market data should force a reconsideration. Over 300,000 buyers chose used Fiestas in 2025. They paid real money for discontinued cars rather than buy new vehicles Ford currently offers. That's not consumer confusion or market inefficiency. That's clear preference for a product Ford no longer makes. Ford isn't bringing the Fiesta back. The company remains committed to electrification despite losing tens of billions on the strategy. CEO Jim Farley recently announced plans for affordable EVs starting around $30,000, but Ford has a track record of missing price targets. The Lightning was supposed to start at $40,000 and ended up at $55,000. Promises of cheap EVs ring hollow when the company couldn't make profitable EVs at any price point. Meanwhile, three million Fiestas are circulating in the UK used market, and buyers keep choosing them over everything else available. The cars are reliable enough to rack up 100,000 miles or more. Parts are cheap and plentiful. Every mechanic knows how to work on them. They fit in tight parking spaces and return 50 mpg without requiring home chargers or range anxiety management. Ford could have developed a hybrid Fiesta. Toyota proved that affordable hybrid hatchbacks work with the Yaris and Corolla. Honda did the same with the Jazz. Ford could have improved efficiency, added electrification where it made sense, and kept the nameplate alive while transitioning toward whatever powertrain future actually materializes. Instead, they killed it entirely and bet everything on pure EVs that lose money and don't sell. The best-selling used car in the UK is a Ford that Ford doesn't make anymore. The second-best is a Vauxhall that Vauxhall still makes. The third is a VW that VW still makes. The fourth is another Ford that Ford killed. The pattern is obvious. Ford discontinued the products customers want most and replaced them with products customers want least.   That's not strategy. That's ideology overriding economics. The market has spoken clearly. Over 300,000 times in 2025 alone. Ford discontinued the Fiesta anyway, and buyers responded by making it the best-selling used car for another year. The company might want to think about what that means.
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