The last of the UK’s best selling car model will be made today as Ford’s Cologne factory produces the final Fiesta.

The last two Fiestas are reported to be held by Ford. One will be kept in Germany, the other will go to the company’s UK heritage centre.

The German plant is being adapted to produce more electric cars, pushing out Fiesta production, in the move to electrify cars to reduced CO2 emissions.

The model was the UK’s best-selling car with 4,804,098 sold in total, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

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After first appearing in UK showrooms in 1976, it spent years at the top of best selling cars lists.

It outpaced the Ford Escort, the second best-selling car in the UK, by more than one million sales. Even last year it was the tenth most popular new car – more than 25,000 were registered.

Globally, more than 22 million Fiestas have been produced.

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The car got its name from its Spanish roots – the Fiesta was first produced in Valencia in 1975.

Designed to be cheap to run, the Fiesta was created in response to the 1973 oil crisis, when the price of fuel rocketed.

UK production of the model began in 1977 in the famous Ford plant in Dagenham, Essex.

Ford has made cuts to its UK workforce in recent months with up to 1,000 jobs being axed at its site in Dunton, Essex – its UK headquarters and technical centre.

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When more than a thousand job losses were announced by the car maker in March Ford was explicit in saying the business restructuring is happening due to the transition to fully electric and the reduced vehicle complexity.

Production of the Focus will also cease in 2025 as Ford aims to have an electric-only fleet in Europe by 2035.

Sales of new petrol and diesel cars and vans will be banned in the UK from 2030.

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