A COMBINED BMW Group corporate sales operation offering fleets BMW, Rover, Mini, MG and Land Rover products has moved a step closer as hundreds of Rover Group staff prepare to relocate from Birmingham to BMW headquarters in Bracknell, Berkshire. Both BMW and Rover stress that brand identities will be retained and that for the foreseeable future the corporate sales departments will be run as separate operations.

But the move, which is expected to be completed by June, reflects the Rover parent's core strategy of shared efficiencies - a fleet example of which is a just-announced £1 million, three-year deal to supply 60 BMW Group cars to AAF McQuay (UK). The Northumberland-based industrial air systems manufacturer is taking delivery of Rover 25, Rover 45, Rover 75, BMW 3-series, BMW 5-series and Land Rover models with Priory Rover Newcastle and Priory BMW Newcastle appointed as servicing dealers.

Trevor Houghton-Berry, Rover Group's newly-appointed corporate sales director, said he was looking forward to working on the BMW campus. 'It's a logical step. There will be convergences and economies of scale and there will be a sharing of ideas and expertise,' he said. 'My personal view is that there has to be a BMW Group-type corporate sales operation at some point in the future. But it is very early days and that's just one of many areas up for debate.'