1997 in motoring

A year after launching the Ka city car, Ford produced another car from its Fiesta chassis in the shape of the Puma – a 2+2 compact sports coupe with distinctive styling. Its entry-level 1.4 16-valve Zetec engine was sourced from the Fiesta, but the larger 1.7 unit was seen only in the Puma and was significantly more powerful than the Fiesta-sourced engine.

Vauxhall stopped production of its Calibra coupe range after eight years while the Corsa is given a facelift in the Summer. The Sintra MPV also launches and is based on a GM-design from the US. The model is soon panned for its dull styling, poor build quality and worrying crash-test results which saw it withdrawn after 2 years on sale.

Alfa Romeo 164 production ceased after 10 years. Its successor was the 166 saloon the following year. ^[1]

Fiat facelifted the Cinquecento city car after six years on sale and gave it a new name – Seicento. The Seicento was a reworking of its predecessor with curvier detailings, and with the standard 700cc engine being dropped and the continuing 900cc unit being available with "Citymatic" semi-automatic transmission – with a normal manual-style gear-lever but no clutch.

Citroën stopped ZX production after seven years to make way for an all-new car – the Xsara. The Xsara was a conventionally styled 5-door hatchback while the coupe offered a 2.0 "VTS" version which was capable of nearly 140 mph. The ZX would continue alongside it for a while an estate version would launch the following year. The end of the year saw a facelifted Xantia launched.

Peugeot gave the 4-year old 306 a major facelift in May while an estate version launched at the same time. An estate version of the larger 406 would launch in July replacing the nearly decade-old 405.

Renault launched a cabriolet version of the Megane.