Skoda believes it is on course to achieve its fleet sales ambition of 20,000 units by year end.

“It looks like we’re going to achieve that quite comfortably,” Andy Thomas, fleet sales development manager at Skoda, said.

“We’ve had a really positive start to the year and we’re currently outperforming the market.

“For some time as a brand we’ve had an ambition to achieve a 2% market share in the UK and we’ve broken through that barrier now.

“In the next five years we’re looking for growth up towards 70-78,000 units with a 45/55 fleet to retail split.”

Thomas thinks that Skoda now has the breadth of product to appeal to all parts of the fleet sector but the challenge the manufacturer faces is brand awareness.

“Skoda’s reputation is growing,” Thomas said. “But there are a lot of people out there who don’t know an awful lot about Skoda.

“The biggest challenge for us is getting in front of the number of people we need to. We’re still a relatively small team – there are currently only five people in the field team.”

Conversations which the field team are having with fleet operators are focused on wholelife costs and benefit in kind taxation.

“Those things are becoming more and more important to people,” Thomas said. “Businesses are also under pressure to reduce their emissions so we’re trying to promote those qualities in our vehicles.”

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