Volkswagen expects its share of the fleet market to fall in the first quarter of the year as rival carmakers get more aggressive on discounts and special offers in a bid to reduce their stockholdings.

But it expects business to pick up in the second and third quarters on the back of several contract wins from large PLCs which have reversed out of solus and dual-badge deals into multi-badge agreements.

Key target markets for growth this year include public sector fleets and police forces, for both marked and unmarked cars, and SME fleets via the dealer network.

Volkswagen head of fleet services Vince Kinner is looking to his 100 fleet dealers to win more business with SME fleets of less than 100 cars.

Volkswagen is to start sharing its database of 7,000 companies with the network to help them prospect and is stepping up training and support programmes.

“We want each business centre to build on the database we give them within their own marketplace – typically one hour of the dealership.

"They have to get to know local fleets in every detail and maintain contact even if they haven’t bought a car from the dealership,” Kinner said.

He believes fleet decision makers and leasing companies need to be educated about potential supplier partners.

At the moment, leasing companies choose dealers and repairers in 70% of cases, even when they are nowhere near where the fleet is based.

Volkswagen is encouraging them to buy more locally, in order to cut down both cost of delivery and reduce CO2 emissions.

“There is no sense in delivering cars over hundreds of miles when we have retailers who are structured in a way that they have the facilities to deliver fleet cars closer to the actual fleet’s location,” Kinner said.

He has seen a trend for mid-sized fleets to move towards ‘family deals’, signing an exclusive contract with, for example, Volkswagen Group’s four main brands – Volkswagen, Audi, Seat and Skoda.

The group is working towards having one sales process to cover all four brands, combining back office functions but retaining separate customer-facing elements of the brands, but Kinner admits this is still a few years away.