Close to extinction: the humble Austin Montego

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Gareth Herincx

2 weeks ago
Auto Blog

MG Austin Montego

The Austin Montego is the UK’s most endangered car, according to new research.

Uswitch.com, the comparison and switching service, analysed Department for Transport and DVLA data to find out which vehicles have seen their numbers drop the most in the last 25 years.

The Montego, which was launched in 1984 and was also available as a sporty MG-badged version, was a regular feature on our roads and driveways during the ’80s and ’90s.

More than 200,000 models were registered in 1995, compared to 2020 when just 34 remained, meaning 99.98% of Montegos have vanished in the last quarter of a century.

Uswitch.com reckons one of the big reasons for this decline is that pre-1989 models can only run on leaded petrol, which stopped being sold in the UK in 1999.

UK’s most endangered cars

Rank Model 2020 1995 Decrease
1 Austin Montego 34 205,283 -99.98%
1 Fiat Regata 3 14,549 -99.98%
1 Lada Samara 11 44,982 -99.98%
4 Hyundai Pony 7 26,888 -99.97%
4 Vauxhall Belmont 16 47,298 -99.97%
6 Austin Maestro 90 231,824 -99.96%
6 Datsun Stanza 5 12,570 -99.96%
6 Zastava Yugo 11 27,123 -99.96%
6 Nissan Stanza 5 11,957 -99.96%
10 Austin Metro 289 572,974 -99.95%

Source: Uswitch.com

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Gareth is a versatile journalist, copywriter and digital editor who’s worked across the media in newspapers, magazines, TV, teletext, radio and online. After long stints at the BBC, GMTV and ITV, he now specialises in motoring.

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