Renault has replaced its business centre programme with a new Professional Plus initiative to encourage its dealers to better meet the needs of local fleets and business user choosers.

It has identified 30 retailers to become Professional Plus operations.

They will employ dedicated teams to handle the sales process and service in a part of the dealership that is set aside for SME fleets.

“The Professional Plus retailers are designed to meet the expectations of fleet users of van and cars for sales and aftersales,” said Renault UK managing director Roland Bouchara.

“The measure of success for the network will be quality of service and increasing volumes of fleet sales.”

However, fleets will see the total number of Renault dealers and authorised repairers shrink over the next 18 months.

Renault is culling its franchised dealer network from 260 to around 200 outlets and its authorised repairer network from 300 to 220.

Bouchara’s focus for this year is retail and corporate sales.

He rules out a return to short-term rental, broker and Motability sales after deciding to withdraw from this unprofitable business last year.

He believes the action, which accounted for two-thirds of the carmaker’s 1% drop in market share last year, will lead to improved profits and better residual values.

The realignment of supply to demand will help Renault to raise prices later this year.

Renault chief operating officer Patrick Pelata wants to see UK prices rise by 10% in order to counter the sterling-euro exchange rate drop and return the business to profit.

Renault is also keen for more dealers to focus on selling vans.

Although all 260 retailers are able to sell models like the Kangoo and Trafic, just 50 generate any volume.

Bouchara wants at least 100 dealers to be selling vans in significant numbers.

He has launched a support kit for dealers, which includes training, advice and decals, and he is offering additional support to dealers who are willing to take vans to customers for test drives.

Renault is looking to raise its van market share by 0.5% this year to 6.5% - around 18,500 units.