“The decade safety stopped being optional.”
Distribution of 1,543 1996 variants by body type.
Petrol still dominates in absolute volume in 1996, but the share is sliding to electric and hybrid year over year.
Quickest, most powerful, most efficient — from variants documented with a 1996 model year.
Variants with a 1996 model year currently in the catalog.
ABS, airbags, side-impact beams, crumple zones — what had been luxury options in 1989 became baseline by 1999. Aero shaping replaced the wedge: Ford Sierra, Opel Calibra, Honda NSX. The first generation common-rail diesel arrived in 1997 (Alfa 156 JTD), redrawing the European fuel map for the next 20 years.