THE December fleet diesel market bucked the trend for the year by registering a 3.3% increase over the same month in 1998. This was due largely to a bumper month for the Ford Focus TD which increased its sales by 15,140% to 762 registrations, although it still lagged in third place behind the Peugeot 306 (1,119 sales) and the Peugeot 406 (916 sales).

An apparent shortage of Volkswagen TDI models saw the manufacturer's fleet diesel sales tumble 30.3% in December compared to the final month of 1998, although group sister Audi increased its diesel sales year-on-year by 102.6%.A 469% surge in orders for the diesel variant of the Nissan Terrano II saw Nissan's fleet diesel sales leap 119.4% in December, but moving the other way were Rover (down 42%), Renault (down 58.9%), and Citroen (down 26.8%).

Top 10 best-selling fleet diesel manufacturers in December were: Peugeot 2,286, Ford 1,837, Vauxhall 1,091, Volkswagen 959, Citroen 442, Nissan 430, Audi 391, Rover 304, Renault 198, Kia 157. Top 10 best-selling fleet diesel models in December were: Peugeot 306 1,119, Peugeot 406 916, Ford Focus 762, Ford Mondeo 455, Volkswagen Passat 453, Vauxhall Astra 451, Vauxhall Vectra 402, Nissan Terrano II 313, Ford Galaxy 303, Audi A4 242.