History of the diesel car Peugeot Citroën introduced the XUD engine in the Peugeot 305, Peugeot 205 and Talbot Horizon. This was the class leading automotive diesel engine until the mid-1990s. The first mass market turbo diesel was the XUD powered, 1988 Citroën BX and then the 1989 Peugeot 405, they gave power and refinement approaching petrol engine standards, with the best chassis in their class. Diesel Car magazine said of the Citroën BX "We can think of no other car currently on sale in the UK that comes anywhere near approaching the BX Turbo's combination of performance, accommodation and economy". These were the cars
European Car of the Year Rover 2000 saloon was the inaugural winner in 1964 while the Austin 1800 was victorious in 1965. The Rover won over another British contender, the rear-engine Hillman Imp. The Renault 16 was the world's first production hatchback car and unsurprisingly won the award for 1966, having been launched at the beginning of 1965. A year later, the award went to the Fiat 124, which won more than twice as many as voted as its nearest competitor, the BMW 1600. Fiat missed out the following year, however, when its 125 was pipped to the award by the revolutionary new NSU Ro80,