SEAT is launching a new fleet expansion programme in readiness for next year's crucial new Toledo with 40 new fleet specialist dealers. The move is designed to achieve 1% of the market. Spokesman Jon Zammett. 'With a major new model programme and an expansion of our fleet network and support service, there is a new mood of confidence in the company.'

A year-long training scheme has begun at dealerships to improve staff ability to handle fleet customers. Of the 40 specialists which will eventually form the network, around 20 have already been appointed.

The small and relatively inexperienced dealer network has always hampered SEAT's expansion plans in the past - particularly in the fleet market - but Zammett said this was changing rapidly. With the new Arosa minicar, the bargain Alhambra people carrier, and the launch of the new Toledo next year, the time has come to expand - paticularly to offer small fleets and user-choosers an increasingly professional service.

The network currently stands at 120 outlets, but this will grow to 135 over the next seven months. The company is also looking at new designs for the dealerships following recent improvements at sister companies Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda.