ALFA Romeo displayed the new 156 at the London Motor Show for the first time on British soil. This is potentially a make or break car for the marque in the UK, and represents a car which has to win conquest business in the corporate sector from the likes of the BMW 3-series, Audi A4 and Volvo S40 if it is to succeed.

While drivers may buy cars with their eyes, fleet managers base their decisions on their pockets, and it's this area which both Fiat and Alfa have to tackle to enter the fleet heartland. Colin Keir, Fiat's fleet director, said: 'We know we are very well accepted into the user-chooser market which is great, and now we are getting fleet managers saying they have so many user-choosers wanting to buy our product that they want to talk further.'