Audi will top and tail its range next year with two new models – the A1 supermini and a revised A8 luxury saloon.

However, head of fleet sales Iain Carmichael insists the brand will not push volume sales in 2010 despite the new additions.

He said: “Our fleet market share has continued to grow and it is now at 6.1%. But we won’t move penetration forward any more next year.

“Instead, we’ll keep volumes level and so as not to make the product too ubiquitous. There is a risk of over-cooking it, but that’s something we will not do.”

Audi has fared better than its premium badge rivals in fleet so far this year. With the market down by a quarter, Audi’s fleet sales have fallen by 15.6% while BMW is down 20.5%, Mercedes-Benz down by nearly 24% and Lexus sales have fallen by almost a third.

Carmichael added: “We’re after good quality business, and most of our fleet sales go through contract hire. We won’t be self-registering to drive sales – we’ll let customers choose and that will drive demand.”

Details of the new A8 model will be released in the next few weeks, prior to the car going on sale in March. The new A1 supermini – billed as Audi’s Mini rival – is due to arrive in the UK in quarter four of 2010. Carmichael added: “We see a lot of potential for the A1 with fleets.”

Carmichael revealed that Audi is on course to register 90,000 vehicles in the UK this year – 10% down on 2008’s performance but ahead of its prediction of 85,000 sales made at the beginning of the year. He expects Audi to sell 95,000 models in the UK next year in a market it predicts will be 1.75 million units – down on 2009’s Audi estimate of 1.88 million units which includes scrappage volumes and also around 50,000 orders which it believes have been brought forward to escape the rise in VAT on January 1.

He added: “I’m not convinced the UK will ever get back to the 2.2/2.3 million annual new car sales level.

“The world is a different place now – manufacturers have learned their lesson with regard to over-production.”