An educational drive, both internal and externally, is intended to encourage greater cross-sell for cars and vans, without losing the ability to provide specialised van expertise.

Nissan customers have traditionally been car customers first before taking on vans.

Around 20% of its customers run both, but Pollock believes there is an opportunity to raise that to “30, 40 or even 50% where appropriate”.

He adds: “It takes 12-18 months before we start to see the rewards of all this action; that’s starting to happen now.

“We will see a 10% rise in sales to core fleet and leasing this year and a 12% growth in dealer fleet sales.”

Pollock returns to fleet after six years overseeing network development at Toyota before being appointed general manager of its sales operations. His new role also marks a return to Nissan, after a 10-year gap.

He says the needs of fleets have little changed over that time – cost-effective mobility solutions for company and driver remain key – but what has changed is the level of sophistication, the range of model and funding options and the influence of legislation.

“The people running fleets now have more multi-functional roles – fleet is no longer the mainstay of their role, it’s also procurement and CSR, for example,” he says.

“We also see a growing influence of environment managers. Fleets are looking to do business with credible businesses – the first thing they look for in the tender is the CSR perspective.

"That’s the first hurdle; then it’s the model mix. Price and fit for purpose is more of a given now and comes lower down the list.”

Pollock’s strategy centres on the desire to be “easy to do business with”. He wants to establish a consistent level of aftersales support and offer innovative solutions and products.

As part of this plan, Nissan is to follow the example of Renault – and other manufacturers – in establishing its version of the Fleet Promise later this year.

The promise will cover key criteria of importance to fleets, such as guaranteed parts supply and service plans, with Nissan promising greater support to its dealers to help them commit to the higher service levels.