ROVER has restated its commitment to the fleet market with a significant increase in its corporate sales team and the promise of a completely new model range within the next decade.

Continued investment of £500 million a year from BMW will enable the British operation to increase production by 50% to 800,000 units annually and as well as continued development of niche products like the Land Rover range and a new Mini, the mainstream Rover range will be completely replaced.

Rover chief executive Dr Walter Hasselkus said the new Rover range would revolve around two new platforms upon which replacements for the 200, 400, 600 and 800 would be based. He also hinted at the possibility of a new 100 being based upon a separate platform for the new Mini, and that MG and Land Rover would retain their separate platforms and identities. Hasselkus ruled out BMW and Rover sharing platforms - because BMW produces rear wheel drive cars and the latter front wheel drive - but there were savings to be made by sharing component suppliers.

Fleet operations director Steve Harris has ended months of speculation about Rover's attitude to the fleet sector by announcing the appointment of 35 new corporate sales staff and confirming Rover's long term commitment to what he described as the most important part of the UK car market. 'The most important part of the UK market is the fleet sector,' he said. 'Any significant player in the UK cannot opt out of fleet.'