There are a number of sales channels for used cars. The major ones include: cars that are under one year old (generally sold as early new) along with cars up to three years old are sold mainly by franchised dealers; nearly new and used cars of any age are sold through independent used car trades; older used cars (of approximately 6 years old or older) sold by private seller and bought by private buyers; car auctions; and car supermarkets.

Note that car supermarkets are a relatively recent phenomenon. Over the last 20 years or so Scotland has seen the emergence of a number of them. Some of these cover huge sites and sell hundreds of cars from a large range of brands.

These are some interesting statistics showing some details of used car sales in Scotland:

With franchised dealers the average price is £7,500; the average age 3 years 2 months; and the average mileage 26,000.

With independent traders and car supermarkets the average price is £4,500; the average age 5 years 11 months; and the average mileage 53,600.

In car auctions the average price is £3,380; the average age 7 years 4 months; and the average mileage 26,000.

Of all car sales, dealers of one form or another have made around 54% of car sales, private sellers have made 40%, and the remaining 6% have been through car auctions.

There are only 2 generations of the Ford KA. The first generation ran from 1996 -2008 and the second generation form 2008 to present.

In production there are currently 8 different models. They all look very similar but the specification for each will be different. The prices vary accordingly.

The KA is very small in design and has had mixed reviews because of its shape and style. For the first three years on the market the all models had black plastic bumpers this was seen a drawback to some consumers. But on the plus side there were no scracthes to bumpers due to parking mishaps. Colour coded bumpers were introduced in 1999.

Due to the low development costs, the Ford KA is one of Fords most highly profitable cars on the market.

In 2003 Ford started producing the StreetKa and SportKA. The StreetKA is a two seater convertible version of the KA. The StreetKa launch was helped along by the pop star Kylie Minogue. The SportKa has a sports body kit, wider track and adjusted suspension. Both of the cars look similar in design due to the widened bumpers.

The Ford Focus first went into production in Europe in 1998 then world wide in February 2000.

There have been 9.2 million Ford Focus’s sold World Wide.

With three generations of the Focus there have been alot of modification along the way. There are a wide range of models. They range from family vechiles such as the Focus Style to the Focus ST-3.

New on the market is a Focus Coupe-Cabriolet. It is a convertible with two doors. It comes with features such as a folding roof and Fordpower starter button. This would not make a good family car as it only has 4 seats.

Ford Focus’s have been renowned for eing brally cars. The Ford Focus made its rally debut in Monte Carlos in 1999 with Colin McRae as the driver. The The first rally car to be driven was the MKI Focus WRC. The Focus ST became a rally car in 2009. Many saftey features need to be added to the standard car to make them safe for rally driving.

The Ford Focus has won many awards. In 2002, German reports and surveys claimed that the Focus was the most reliable car on the market. The Focus MK1 has won over 60 awards including 13 prestigious car of the year awards. It has also one Top Gears car of the year award.

The Focus is such a popular car World Wide it’s in assembly all over the globe.

The Ford Galaxy is a MPV multi purpose vechile. It was a joint venture between Ford and the Volkswagen group. It was first designed in 1995.

There are three different generations of the Ford Galaxy. The MK1 , MK2 and MK3.

The Galaxy MK1 was the first to be designed. It was in production from 1995-2000. It was available in Petrol 2.0, 2.3 and 2.8. Then in 1.8 diesel. The car was assembled in Portugal.

The MK2 went into procuction in 2000 – 2006. The size of the engine are the same as the MK1 but differ in the transmission type. It is available in 6-speed manual, 4-speed automatic and 5-speed automatic. This range was also assebled in Portugal.

The MK3 was put into production in 2006 and is still being made. It is available in several engine sizes. They start at 1.8 all the way up to the 2.0 litre eco boost. The car is shipped from Genk in Belgium.

All Ford Galaxys have 5 doors. The newer models are the Zetec, Titanium and Titanium X. The are vary in price.

The standard features on the new Ford Galaxys are 70 litre fuel tank, Driver and front passenger airbags, bluetooth Hands free system and door mirrors. You can pay extra for things such as power assisted folding door mirrors, Electic parking brake and touch screen navigation.

Ford Galaxys are always likened to the Ford S-Max, Volkswagen Sharan and Seat Alhambra.

The Ford Galaxy’s are ideal family cars as they have enough room to accomodate 7 people.

Since 1976 when the Ford Fiesta went in to production it has sold over 12 million units.

This type of design came about as the demand for smaller cars was becoming more aparent. The Ford Motor company were struggling to compete with other car companies producing smaller cars.

There are various models on the market. They will come in 3 or 5 door. The engine sizes will range from 1 litre to 2.0 litre. The speedier models tend to have the bigger engines like the Fiesta ST.

Prices will range depending on which model you buy. There are several models on the market. The Fiesta Studio, Edge, Zetec, Econetic, Titnium, Zetec and S1600.

Each model will have a different specification. The higher the spec the more the cost will go up. The kind of things you will be able to add will be things like leather interior, sports suspension, side airbags and electric power steering.

All newer will cars will have fewer CO2 emmisions. The Ford Fiesta with the fewest CO2 emmisons is the Ecotecnic with 98g/km.

Ford Fiestas are avaliable in petrol or diesel.

The Fiesta’s are fitted with a passive Anti-Theft System Immobiliser. This car can only be started by the pre pogrammed key. This helps prevent thefts.

All new ford cars will come with a three year warranty or 60,000 mile run warranty.

The first ever Ford Model T was produced August 12th 1908 and left the factory a month later

The Ford Model T was in production form 1908 to 1927. The year the car went on sale was the year when the auto mobile became popular and fashionable. It was designed by Chlde Harold Willis and two Hungarian immigrants. There were several designs and models built from the very first model in 1908 to 1927. From 1915 -1925 the Ford Model T was only available in black. It wasn’t until 1908 that they started producing cars in different colours. The reason for using mostly black paint was that they say the paint dried quicker. Over 30 types of different black paint were used.

The Ford Model T is regarded as the first affordable auto mobile. They were owned mostly by middle class Americans. This is due to the way the cars were constructed, Assembly line production rather then the more costly hand crafted cars.

As the sales of the Ford Model T soared half the cars in the US were of this style.

Over the years the design, colours and features were adapted.

When the Ford Model T went on sale , the car company made sure every newspaper knew about the product this boosted sales.

The left over products left over from the Ford Model T were turned into charcoal.

It was founded by Henry Ford in 1903. Henry was born in Greenfield, Township, Dearborn Michigan US. Henry Ford has Irish heritage as his father was originally from County Cork in Ireland. His mother was born in Michigan. Henry Ford passed away in April 7th 1947 aged 83. He had one child by the name of Edeel Ford.

The Ford Motor Company was launched from an old factory with $28,000 worth of investors money. The first attempt was later named The Cadillac Motor company on August 22nd 1902. During the early years of the business the company only produced a few cars per day. By the time he was 40 years old Henry Ford had started the Ford Motor Company, which then went on to become one of the worlds largest, most profitable Companies in the World.

The Ford Motor company remained a family controlled business for over 100 years.

Ford is now the second largest car maker in the U.S and the fourth largest In the World.

As well as owning the ford motor company they also have stakes in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK.

Ford produce their cars by using an industrial workforce. They use engineered assembly lines to put the car pieces together.

The car Giant has manufacturing operations in Canada, Mexico, the UK, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, Australia and the peoples Republic of China.

Ford Cars now sell world wide. There are various models on the market