FORD Fiesta, Vauxhall Corsa, Astra and Vectra lead the top 10 race for best sales just published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. They each sold 7,000 something in new models during February.

The total market place for new car registrations was down 52 per cent as buying patterns change to the new letter T. "This will affect buying patterns in the first quarter," said a SMMT spokesman. With the new system of March and September, each new letter month is expected to account for 15 per cent of new car registrations.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.