THE London Motor Show marked the first official appearance of Martin Hillman, Renault's new national fleet sales manager, following his appointment a fortnight ago. He takes over from Mark Smith, who has been promoted to commercial operations manager for the Renault Retail Group.

Hillman (47) joined Renault in 1993 after a career which included periods with Ford Fleet and Crown Vehicle Contracts. 'I'm very much looking forward to the challenge of maintaining Renault's spectacular rate of growth within the UK fleet market - with a particular focus on the launch of the brand new light commercial vehicle range next year,' said Hillman.

Renault currently enjoys about 8% share of the fleet market, and just over half of Renault sales now go into the corporate sector. Mike Power, Renault's director of fleet, rejected absolutely industry speculation than Renault's formidable increase in fleet business was due to daily rental sales.