25 Year's of the Vauxhall Corsa

25 years’ ago, saw the launch of Vauxhall's’ best-selling model, the Vauxhall Corsa. With over two million having been sold in the UK since launch (that’s equivalent of nine purchases an hour) the Corsa has become part of British culture.

The Vauxhall Corsa was launched with cassette players and now offers Apple CarPlay. The most popular model engines have almost doubled in power and the interior dimensions have grown significantly. Although technology and style have developed with the car, the Corsa’s incredible value hasn’t.

Leon Caruso, Retail Sales Director at Vauxhall Motors comments: “The Corsa has played such an integral part in British culture over the past 25 years, I think it’d be difficult to find someone who hasn’t owned or has a friend or family member who has owned a model.”

To celebrate the Corsa’s 25th year in the UK, Vauxhall looks at 25 things you may have no known about the iconic car:

1. The original Corsa was introduced in an advert with supermodels Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista
2. It was once claimed that about 70 percent of learners buy their first car to drive the same car model as they pass their test in
3. Vauxhall has sold two million Corsa’s in the UK and 9.86 million globally
4. ‘Corsa’ means ‘race’ in Italian
5. When Arctic Monkeys signed a publishing deal with EMI publishing, lead vocalist Alex Turner celebrated by buying a Vauxhall Corsa
6. The Corsa replaced the much-loved Vauxhall Nova
7. Matt Smith sold his Corsa on eBay for £6.3k, donating the fee to children’s charity Starlight
8. Tinie Tempah, boxer Nicola Adams and ex-Doctor Who actor Matt Smith all bought the Corsa as their first car
9. The most popular latest Corsa colour bought is the Grey, with 45,050 Grey Corsa’s currently on British roads
10. The original model sold for £7,195 with the price rising by just £3,850 in its 25 years. Assuming an annual inflation rate of two percent, it would be less expensive now than in 1993
11. Vauxhall has sold 20,000 Corsa’s to the UK Police forces in the past ten years
12. Original Corsa designer Richard Shaw still works at Vauxhall, working through the ranks to Chief Designer for Interiors
13. Famous celebs involved in campaigns for the Corsa include Sean Paul, Claudia Schiffer, James Martin and fictional rock band The C’mons
14. Vauxhall has supplied thousands of Corsa’s to driving schools including BSM, Red and Hitachi Capital
15. British artist Alex Chinneck designed a gravity-defying illusionary piece of artwork which saw the artist suspend a Corsa fifteen feet in the air at London’s Southbank Centre
16. Vauxhall renamed its yellow colour to Maddox Yellow to show support for pensioner Peter Maddox, who’s yellow Corsa was vandalised
17. The Corsa is one of the most popular used cars bought, with 63,000 sold each year, through Network Q, the best place to buy a used Vauxhall
18. Over 100 models of the Corsa have featured in the annual Vauxhall Art Car Boot Fair at locations across the UK for the past thirteen years
19. The latest generation of the Corsa is available in 13 colours
20. Some Corsa models have a hidden shark on the hinge of the glove compartment
21. Unusual Corsa models have included a convertible version and a sporty pick-up
22. In 2014, the prototype fourth-generation Corsa was in gear to win the Guinness World Record for the “Largest GPS Drawing”
23. Vauxhall created a pair of bespoke headphones in the shape of a Corsa to help launch the fifth year of the UK Beatbox Championships in 2011
24. The Corsa previously shared some of the same parts with a sports car, the Lotus Elise
25. A new electric Corsa model will be launching in 2019 – Vauxhall’s first electric Corsa

To find out more about the brilliantly British model or took book your test drive simply click the link below:

Vauxhall Corsa