Land Rover Defender Retired

How many vehicles are produced for nearly 68 years? The vehicle eventually named the Land Rover Defender was. It's longevity is no secret, neither that it is all over due to regulations. It's been kept out of North America for some time and now Europe too.

There is still plenty of the planet left but it wasn't selling in enormous numbers anyway so it had to go. Maybe if the production was moved to say India, it could be still made profitably. Whether that will happen, we must wait and see. For now a few pictures to say adieu.

Ah, the country life. So serene and with such a capable escort

It was classless too

We all know about it's off road prowess

The last model to roll off the production line

UK Top 50 Car Sales By Model : 2015

The Ford Fiesta #1 for the 7th consecutive year

I coloured this list according to where the models are associated, not who owns them or where they are made. Germany is the biggest suppliers of cars to the UK so no surprise they also have the most representations here. The UK's contribution is paltry, but if you add four Asian and one US models then it gets a little better. A little. The new MINI had a good year, braking back into the Top 10.

	Rk	Model	2015	2014	+/-
	1	Ford Fiesta	133,434	129,468	3.1%		Germany
	2	Vauxhall Corsa	92,077	80,708	14.1%		16 Models
	3	Ford Focus	83,816	83,454	0.4%
	4	VW Golf	73,409	74,842	-1.9%		Europe
	5	Nissan Qashqai	60,814	48,482	25.4%		13 models
	6	VW Polo	54,900	46,158	18.9%
	7	Vauxhall Astra	52,703	58,888	-10.5%		Asia
	8	Audi A3	47,653	41,716	14.2%		9 models
	9	Mini	47,076	35,053	34.3%
	10	Vauxhall Mokka	45,399	32,918	37.9%		USA
	11	Fiat 500	42,906	43,427	-1.2%		8 models
	12	Mercedes C Class	41,821	37,882	10.4%
	13	Nissan Juke	40,021	38,255	4.6%		UK
	14	BMW 3 Series	36,728	37,953	-3.2%		3 models
	15	BMW 1 Series	34,317	31,848	7.8%
	16	Vauxhall Insignia	33,727	30,627	10.1%
	17	Ford Kuga	32,936	23,647	39.3%
	18	Toyota Yaris	32,855	30,359	8.2%
	19	Peugeot 208	30,423	31,215	-2.5%
	20	Mercedes A Class	29,727	26,365	12.8%
	21	Mercedes E Class	26,634	28,372	-6.1%
	22	Renault Clio	26,588	28,001	-5.0%
	23	Audi A1	25,298	24,045	5.2%
	24	Renault Captur	24,769	19,280	28.5%
	25	Toyota Aygo	24,539	20,156	21.7%
	26	VW Passat	24,065	19,669	22.3%
	27	Hyundai i10	23,846	23,938	-0.4%
	28	BMW 4 Series	23,704	14,809	60.1%
	29	Kia Sportage	23,010	20,690	11.2%
	30	Škoda Octavia	22,580	20,596	9.6%
	31	VW Tiguan	21,889	16,373	33.7%
	32	BMW 5 Series	21,428	20,441	4.8%
	33	Audi A4	21,148	21,186	-0.2%
	34	Range Rover Evoque	20,802	18,256	13.9%
	35	Seat Ibiza	20,336	21,670	-6.2%
	36	Ford Mondeo	20,286	13,794	47.1%
	37	Seat Leon	20,226	22,605	-10.5%
	38	Peugeot 108	19,482	7,377	164.1%
	39	Citroën 1	19,105	14,265	33.9%
	40	Toyota Auris	18,945	18,526	2.3%
	41	Škoda Fabia	18,904	15,804	19.6%
	42	Peugeot 2008	18,850	16,706	12.8%
	43	Honda Jazz	18,465	20,019	-7.8%
	44	BMW 2 Series	17,832	4,657	282.9%
	45	Citroën 4 Picasso	17,599	23,913	-26.4%
	46	Hyundai i30	17,392	12,290	41.5%
	47	Volvo V40	17,068	17,649	-3.3%
	48	VW Up!	16,904	22,072	-23.4%
	49	L R Discovery Sport	16,485		n/a
	50	Citroën DS 3	16,429	19,583	-16.1%

The MINI came in 9th

Cyprus Car Sales : 2010-14

Could the Nissan Qashqai help Nissan win back the top spot in Cyprus?

You would have to be living under a rock not to know about the Cypriot economic crisis. car sales are an accurate barometer for the strength of, and confidence in, the financial system. Neither were good. Still Toyota coped better than most and came back from a huge deficit against Nissan to be number one in 2014. Near the top of the list Kia did well but VW, Mercedes, Ford, BMW and Audi had a run similar to Nissan.

Land Rover had a grin inducing 2014, leaping 10 places in ranking, with sales up 376%! Peugeot, Opel and & Škoda had a shockingly bad few years. It just goes to show that turmoil creates unusual amounts of change, with some doing well and others not.

		Make	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
	1	Toyota	1,139	933	1,036	789	1,052
	2	Nissan	1,812	2,223	1,350	845	961
	3	Kia	464	553	1,034	571	637
	4	Volkswagen	1,175	1,171	756	566	631
	5	Mercedes	1,051	762	566	481	511
	6	Ford	1,204	1,625	1,267	701	479
	7	BMW	1,233	868	570	318	444
	8	Audi	1,042	864	513	356	405
	9	Volvo	286	447	264	146	356
	10	Honda	629	558	265	193	354
	11	Renault	285	266	269	265	319
	12	Land Rover	228	85	178	66	314
	13	Hyundai	267	556	715	302	312
	14	Peugeot	610	500	266	185	185
	15	Citroën	173	111	143	96	156
	16	Opel	782	577	300	170	150
	17	Suzuki	337	330	222	118	145
	18	Mazda	232	202	35	84	137
	19	Fiat	238	198	166	109	124
	20	Chevrolet	369	321	218	154	109
	21	Porsche	71	89	53	40	104
	22	Dacia				70	61
	23	Mitsubishi	487	445	113	31	55
	24	Škoda	377	395	253	109	50
	25	Seat	157	162	105	43	41
	26	MINI	72	135	101	62	36
	27	Subaru	60	18	12	48	35
	28	Jaguar	10	21	37	25	28
	29	Lexus	12	32	17	12	23
	30	Chrysler	63	21	23	27	22
	31	Alfa Romeo	41	89	59	24	11
	32	smart	27	39	24	11	11
	33	Maserati	4	2	3	2	7
	34	Saab	19	14	5	6
	35	Daihatsu	35	28	13	5
	36	Proton	31	15	3	1
	37	Perodua	26	4
	38	Other	13	6	13	16	6
	39	Total	15,061	14,665	10,967	7,047	8,271

Data source: Ministry of Finance, Cyprus.