Commissioned by the Retail Motor Industry Federation and the Department of Trade and Industry, the survey - 'The Competitiveness of UK Distribution and Retailing' - says dealers must learn how to deal with fleet buyers if recent progress in areas such as aftersales, IT and lean distribution is to be sustained. The report concludes that dealers must focus on two key areas if the car retailing industry is to thrive in the next century: customer service must further improve and ultra-efficient, customer-driven lean distribution systems must be developed.

Chief author Malcolm Harbour said the UK led the world in many areas of car retailing and that the true scale of the fleet car market was certainly under-recorded. He estimated that in total, cars bought by businesses could amount to two thirds of new car registrations and that company cars accounted for three million - or 12.5% of the total UK car parc. Harbour added that a stable system was fundamental to maintaining the shape and strength of the car market in Britain and warned that any further legislative adjustments could erode confidence in the fleet market.