CHAMPIONS of the fleet industry are being sought by the Confederation of British Industry in a new drive to educate its 250,000-member firms on the most effective way to run company vehicles. The CBI is about to launch a major initiative to educate companies on effective fleet management and is looking for a limited number of fleets across all employment sectors to act as 'recommended contacts' in a report fronted by its director general, Digby Jones.

Available as a CD-Rom, the report will underline how the company car can create a better image for an organisation and contribute towards its efficiency. It will be circulated directly to 30,000 directors and managers in the CBI in October and will be promoted through the CBI's members' magazine.

CBI marketing manager Frances Hughes said: 'The main reason for the focus on fleet is to address the increasing attention being given to all fleet issues from the drivers to the HR directors on topics like corporate identity, taxation and fuel cards and will ensure our members are ahead of the game through strategic planning.'

She said the organisation was looking for 10 companies representing a cross-section of UK fleets, allowing them to present case studies on their operations as guidance on best practice, which CBI members would learn from.

Although sponsorship based, contributing companies will be given the opportunity to write an editorial piece outlining the way their fleets are managed and provide case studies.

This will be the first time the CBI, whose member companies represent six million workers, has focused on the fleet industry. The initiative gained a warm response from the Institute of Car Fleet Management. Its finance officer and Fleet News columnist Eddie West said: 'I applaud the CBI's long overdue involvement in a sector that is big enough and has sufficient impact in business to rank alongside the most important in the country.'

But he urged the CBI to ensure the companies selected to front the initiative would truly represent a cross-section of fleet, using a variety of acquisition, finance and disposal methods. For more information on being part of the CBI initiative, call Kate Viner on 0208 956 4000