Who owns the Ford Fiesta, and where are they?
Robin Roberts tells all…
Maesteg is motor-city for the Ford Fiesta, although in fact the car was launched in Monaco…. (Kim adds… “and a younger version of our Robin was there for the occasion of that very launch!”).
You are most likely to see one of the 40-versions of the car launched since 1976 on the streets of the South Wales town.
The popularity of the Ford Fiesta has been uncovered by analysis of policies held by Welsh-based insurer Admiral and the study was undertaken to co-incide with the fact that the super-mini first went on UK sale 40 years ago this month.
The Ford Fiesta was launched as the company’s first super-mini (and its first front wheel drive model) in 1976, coming to the UK six months later, and the seventh generation arrives in 2017. Over four million have been registered in Britain.
By 1990 it was the best-selling car in the country and last year 120,000 new Fiestas were registered, 40,000 more than its nearest rival.
To mark its 40th anniversary in the UK, Admiral crunched the data from 117,000 Fiesta owners to find out more about them and reveal the definitive Mr or Ms Fiesta.
Fiesta owners are more likely to be men than women; 57% of the Fiestas insured with Admiral are driven by men, 43% are driven by women.
Although they are most popular with motorists in their 20s, the average age of Mr Fiesta is actually older at 41. He’s also probably married; 53% of Fiesta owners are married, while 28% are single and 16% are co-habiting.
Admiral also studied the data to see where in the country the Ford Fiesta is most popular, and there are two distinct clusters of towns and districts with the highest percentage of Fiesta owners. In fact the top ten postcode areas are all either in South Wales or in Essex.
Number one Fiesta town in the UK is Maesteg in the valleys of South Wales. More than 14% of the people Admiral insures in the town drive a Ford Fiesta, this compares with 4% of the UK as a whole. Not far behind is Tilbury in Essex and in third place is Port Talbot, also in South Wales.
This reflects the fact that Ford has its UK headquarters in Essex and its major petrol engine plant in Bridgend, and Ford employees and families can buy cars with discounts and incentives, which mean over time the used car pools of Ford models is largest in these areas.
Head of service at Admiral, Alistair Hargreaves, said, “The Ford Fiesta is the most popular car we insure and we’ve insured nearly 700,000 of them since we launched in 1993.
“It think it’s easy to see why they are the UK’s best-selling car, they are cheap to run, fun to drive and reliable. The oldest one we insure is from 1979.
“We know why they are popular, but to celebrate 40 years of them being on our roads, we wanted to see who makes them so popular, who is the typical Fiesta owner?
“We looked at data from all our 117,000 Fiesta owning customers. It’s fascinating to find so many live in either Essex or South Wales. Maybe the writers of Gavin and Stacey should have given Gavin a Fiesta to drive rather than a Citroën!”
Top 10 UK postcodes for Ford Fiesta owners
| Postcode and town or district | Percentage owners | |
| 1st | CF34 – Maesteg, South Wales | 14.49% |
| 2nd | RM18 – Tilbury, Essex | 14.02% |
| 3rd | SA12 – Port Talbot, South Wales | 13.84% |
| 4th | SS17 – Stanford-le-Hope, Essex | 13.61% |
| 5th | SS14 – Basildon, Essex | 13.52% |
| 6th | CF43 – Ferndale, South Wales | 12.79% |
| 7th | RM17 – Grays, Essex | 12.55% |
| 8th | SS15 – Laindon, Essex | 12.39% |
| 9th | CF42 – Treorchy, South Wales | 12.24% |
| 10th | SS16 – Langdon Hills, Essex | 12.19% |
Source: Admiral insurance motor insurance customers November 2016
So what else did Admiral find out about Mr Fiesta? He is most likely to be a management trainee as 12% drive one, making it the occupation that includes the highest percentage of Fiesta owners.
Other occupations you’re likely to find driving a Fiesta are lifeguards, loss adjusters and primary school teachers, all of which feature in the top ten.
Top 10 UK occupations of Ford Fiesta owners
| Occupation | Percentage owners | |
| 1st | Management Trainee | 12.12% |
| 2nd | Apprentice | 11.87% |
| 3rd | Lifeguard | 10.28% |
| 4th | Claims Loss Adjuster | 10.18% |
| 5th | Student Teacher | 10.07% |
| 6th | Bar Staff | 10.05% |
| 7th | Trainee Accountant | 9.87% |
| 8th | Primary School Teacher | 9.85% |
| 9th | Hotel Porter | 9.71% |
| 10th | Leisure Centre Attendant | 9.53% |
Source: Admiral insurance motor insurance customers November 2016
There is another reason why Admiral likes Ford Fiesta drivers: they make fewer claims than the average driver. Looking at the figures from 2016 they were 5% less likely to have made a claim than the average Admiral customer.
Alistair Hargreaves commented, “That’s just one more reason to love the Ford Fiesta and the far from ordinary people who choose to drive them.”
