DAEWOO has pledged its future commitment to the fleet market, despite the departure of its national fleet and sales manager Stewart Wright. He had been in the post for almost two years, but left suddenly last week following a 'fundamental difference of opinion' with the company over its future strategy in fleet.

Neither he nor Patrick Farrell, Daewoo's sales and marketing director, would elaborate on the area of disagreement, but Farrell confirmed that Daewoo would continue to grow its fleet business. 'We are totally committed to the fleet market and we have virtually completed a new initiative, recruiting 28 local fleet sales operators for each of our major outlets,' he said. 'You cannot ignore half the market, and we are getting progressively more focused on fleet. We want to do 9,000 fleet registrations this year, with no rental business at all.'

The company will focus on smaller, local business customers via the 28-strong regional sales team, but is recruiting a fleet manager to look after its relationship with major fleets, including Motability - a key growth opportunity for the company. It is also expanding its contract hire sales team under Martin Bradbury, national leasing and rental manager, and will appoint a head of fleet to replace Wright. And behind the scenes, Daewoo is supporting its push into fleet, establishing a dedicated fleet administration department of four people to process orders and answer enquiries from corporate customers.