THE Ford Escort Mk2 is back in production. Car manufacturers MST have revealed the first new rear-wheel-drive escort produced since the official discontinuation in 1980. Several car builders have been building Mk2 rally cars to order for some years now, but this is the first time since 1980 you can order a brand new 2021 registered Mk1 or Mk2 escort, but you better have very deep pockets.
 


MST, which has sold full replacement bodyshells to car restorers and rally preparation businesses for some time now, has gone one step further from its usual fare with this 2021 car. It is the first of what will be a number of made to order cars priced from around £65,000, depending on specification. To put that price into context, a new 1300L escort in 1980 would have set you back just under £3,000, a fully restored 1980 1300L today would set you back from £9,000 upwards. This new one is nearly 22 times the price of a new escort in 1980!
 
While this rolling prototype is a Mk2 Escort in Group 4 rally guise with wild flared arches and a full roll cage, MST says that customers will be able to choose narrower road specification bodyshells too, and in time it’ll offer continuation versions of the Mk1 Escort in rally and road guise as well. Customers can choose between a trimmed interior or a fully stripped out cabin ready for competition or show use.  Unlike official manufacturer-backed continuation efforts, the MST Escorts won’t be mechanically faithful to the Ford originals of some 40 years ago. Instead, engine options will be covered by popular four-cylinder modern rally conversions, with customers offered a choice of new Ford Duratec, Millington or BDG engines all tried, trusted and dependable units.
 
Drive is sent to the rear Atlas axle via a six-speed manual gearbox, though more competition-minded customers will be able to option a sequential transmission, which means that you simply pull back on a well-positioned lever or operate little paddles on the back of the steering wheel to change up or down the gears, no trying to find the next gear, just the slightest flick and you’re there.
 
The MST Mk2 features power steering as standard and gets a modern suspension set-up using components from specialists Ohlins, Bilstein and Reiger. The brakes are racing specification items off the shelf from AP Racing so not only will these cars go forward very quickly, they will also go over the bumps like a modern car and stop on a sixpence. 
 
I have owned, raced, and rallied a few Mk2 escorts in my time, I drove a 1300 Mk2 escort to work every day. It was a simple, comfortable, uncomplicated workhorse, nothing special, but the RS2000 version (pictured), was something else, and as a rally car it was simply stupendous. I would have another one tomorrow... But not at £65,000. Order books are now open for both Mk1 and Mk2 cars for delivery later in the year.

Dip in new and used car sales
 
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STATISTICS for new vehicle sales in the south of the island for 2020 were released on January 6. Total new car sales finished down 25% on 2019 with imported used car sales down 29%, while electric vehicles were up 15% from an extremely low starting point. Diesel vehicles still outsell all others with petrol in second and electric vehicles way behind. Manual cars continue to be more popular, but automatics continue to gain in popularity. The hatchback remains Ireland’s top selling car in 2020 and grey continues to be the most popular colour topping the charts for the past five years.
 
In the UK, figures showed a fall of 29% in 2020. Against a backdrop of Covid restrictions, an acceleration of the end of sale date for petrol and diesel cars to 2030 and Brexit uncertainty, the industry lost £20.4 billion in sales. Demand for battery electric vehicles grew but mainly for company cars with private buyers needing more incentives or better deals to change to electric power. Given seven out of 10 new cars registered in the UK in 2020 were imported from Europe, the continuation of tariff and quota-free trade as part of the late brexit deal is seen as critical to a strong new car market in 2021.
 
In other car news, the Vauxhall Corsa was the best-selling car in both Scotland and Wales, the Fiesta was the best-selling car in the north of England. 4x4 magazine awarded the Jeep Wrangler best off-road performer award, and the Jeep Renegade Best Small SUV. SsangYong won three awards: the Musso winning both best value shortbed and longbed pick-up truck, and for the fourth year in a row the Rexton has won best value 4X4 SUV. PEUGEOT’s e-208 was named Best Small Electric Car and the 2008 the Best Small SUV title at the annual ‘carwow’ Awards. Motorpoint, the car home delivery provider, named the Ford Fiesta as their most popular car of choice for 2020.
 
White was the best-selling car colour in the world accounting for 38% of all cars sold. In Europe white and grey shared the top spot at 25% each with black being the best-selling colour for luxury cars. UK car buyers in the south of the island prefer grey with grey accounting for 22.6% of all cars sold.
 
Believe it or not, not all car sales are down. though. You’ll probably remember the words in Christy Moores song ‘Ordinary Man’ when he sang that even after the factory closed the owner “still drives his car and smokes his cigar and, still he takes his family on a cruise, he'll never lose.” When we are witnessing big names vanishing from the high streets, the ranks of the unemployed swelling, and small businesses failing across the board, it is a bit ironic that Bentley, one of the world’s largest luxury car manufacturers, broke all sales records in 2020. As Christy sang, “One law for the rich one for the poor.”