FLEET sales burst through the one million mark in October, the ninth year in a row that the milestone has been achieved.

Year-to-date fleet sales hit 1,010,074 registrations – down 3.7% on the same period last year. This means fleet business now accounts for 47.5% of the new car market according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), eclipsing private sales which make up 45%.

However, sales to businesses running up to 25 cars remained strong, recording another rise in registrations, up 7.4% to 157,718 sales.

Vauxhall remained the top selling fleet manufacturer despite a 5.7% fall in year-to-date sales. Ford remained in second spot with a 3.7% fall. Within the top 10, Audi recorded the biggest rise, up 30.7%, closely followed by BMW which recorded a 29.8% increase.

Elsewhere, Nissan grew sales by 28.6% and Citroen by 21.3%.

The Ford Focus remains the best-selling car in fleet, although Vauxhall’s new Astra continues its inexorable rise, recording a 38.5% increase to close within 20,000 sales. But it’s not all good news for Vauxhall, with the Zafira (in run-out mode) down 23.3%, the Corsa down 19.4% and the Vectra falling by 13,7%.

In the diesel top 10, the Peugeot 407 was the biggest climber, up 154% (due to it only being introduced a year ago), followed by the Astra which was up 40.9%.

Meanwhile sales of vans up to 3.5 tonnes in October were down by 14.1%.

The main fall was due to a drop in light vans up to 1.8 tonnes, which were down 27.1%, while medium vans saw a 3.4% fall and heavy vans were down 9.5%.

However, year-to-date figures are healthier, down just 0.9% over 2004.

So far in 2005, light vans are down 6.2%, medium vans are up 11.2% and heavy vans remain level.

Fortunes are varied so far in 2005 for the various manufacturers. Mercedes-Benz shows a fall of 13.2%, while market leader Ford falls 6.6% and Citroen is down 4.7%.

Meanwhile, Volkswagen heads the list of risers with a 13.5% increase, while Vauxhall is up 9%, Peugeot rises by 10.8% and Nissan is up 13.7%.

Society of Motor Mnaufacturers’ chief executive Christopher Macgowan commented: ‘Demand for commercial vehicles has been strong for the past 60 months.

‘While recent trends suggest demand has peaked, we think the overall total for 2005 will top last year’s, with some sectors doing better than others.’