Ford’s Fiesta is now the UK’s best-selling vehicle nameplate of all time after total sales topped 4,115,000 this month, 37 years after launch.

First shown in 1976, the Fiesta has led the small car segment in the UK for 27 of the 37 years and has been Britain’s best-selling car since 2009 when it overtook the larger Focus.

This month it surpassed the historic record of the Escort which sold 4,105,961 in the 32 years it was on sale in the UK from 1968 through to 2000.