1980s FLEET FAVOURITES

We profile a line-up of popular mid-sized '80s company cars ranging from the ubiquitous Sierra and Cavalier repmobiles through to the king of the company car park, the BMW 3-Series.

- Iain Wakefield

From the late ’60s and for most of the following decade, the company car was used as a cost-effective way to reward loyal staff during the time when staggeringly high inflation rates were seriously undermining the value of the monthly salary cheque. Although the 1980s will be generally remembered for its exciting music and well-dressed Yuppies splashing loads of cash around the City, the mainstay of cars on the UK’s roads during that time were fleet-managed vehicles, with the majority badged and powered to satisfy the office hierarchy of the day.

Back in the days when cars like the Sierra, Cavalier, Ital and later models like the Peugeot 405 and Montego ruled the company car park, junior sales representatives would clock up interstellar mileages in their basic and L-badged models while junior staff would have the use of a low-spec hatchback, such as a Fiesta, Metro, Corsa or even a Maestro if they were lucky.

Senior staff would proudly leave the keys to their flashier 2-litre GL on the desk, while service engineers cursed their sluggish oil-burning estates. On the other hand, managers parking up SRi or Ghia-badged saloons would look longingly at the director’s XR4x4 or the chairman’s Cosworth and dream of promotion.

Company car ownership would eventually reach its zenith during the 1990s, but ever more punitive personal tax bands according to the type and size of car being driven started to seriously affect the pay packet of employees and would eventually take the shine off running a company vehicle.

This makes the 1980s probably the final decade when company car rivalry ruled the office car park and following is a line-up of the most popular mid-sized favourites from the decade. How many have survived?

FORD SIERRA 1982-92