Once an owner’s pride & joy, some familiar models are now destined to become future collectables.
While arguably not in the same league as classics, there are a number of cars which will jog memories of their good and bad points and a sweep through the DVLA records in Swansea by Confused.com insurance has turned up a few surprises.
The 10 car models that have seen the biggest decline
The car that has seen the biggest drop in numbers since 2012 is the Fiat Brava.
It is the twin to the Fiat Bravo and is a small 5-door fastback, family car with the last one produced in 2003. It was pitched as a futuristic car, but this look was actually received negatively by critics, and was later replaced by the Fiat Stilo.
In second place is the Daewoo Lanos, which has seen its numbers dwindle by 93.55% over the last decade and was a compact car that ceased production in 2002.
It prioritised reliability over any fancy features and was a popular car in its day before it was replaced by the Daewoo Kalos, which is a rare sight on British roads these days too, with just 1,368 remaining.
Third is the Kia Shuma, another car that ceased production in the early 2000s. Like others on this list, the Shuma was sold as a value option, with a focus on reliability and practicality.
It was rebranded as the Kia Mentor in the UK, but over 4,000 existed under the Shuma nameplate as of 2012.
The top 5 car brands that have seen the biggest decline
Daewoo is the car brand that’s disappeared from our roads the most over the last decade.
Daewoo vehicles were popular due to their affordability, as well as their policy of offering free servicing on new vehicles for the first 3 years. However, the brand hit financial difficulties and sold most of its assets to General Motors, who stopped using the brand name in 2011.
Sao were rebadged Mazda 323 cars built in South Africa as a joint venture between Ford and Mazda subsidiaries and had one of the shortest UK runs in the 1980s, while Malaysian-made Proton cars and pickups were derived from old Mitsubishi models.
Former British luxury brand Rover had a number of manufacturing owners over its troubled years including BMW and developed models with Honda as well.
Tata, who now own the Jaguar Land Rover businesses, once sold their own brand models in Britain including pickups.
There are currently 41 different car models in the UK that have just 1 vehicle left licenced in the UK, including the Lamborghini Centenario and Maserati MC12.
The Fiat 500 is the car model that has increased the most in popularity since 2012, as its numbers quadrupled.
