AUTOMOTIVE parts supplier Unipart is targeting fleets of up to 60,000 vehicles as it fights for a larger market share for its fledgling fleet service business. The firm has held talks with a variety of companies and clinched business worth millions of pounds following the launch of its dedicated fleet support service Unipart Fleet at the 1998 Fleet Motor Show.

Since the May launch, the company has been taken on as one of the preferred suppliers to a number of firms, including Hambro and PepsiCo. It is also in talks with three major contract hire and leasing companies about providing its services, and says the biggest, as yet unnamed, clients are yet to come.

Unipart used to supply fleets on an ad hoc basis, but saw the potential for gaining a permanent slice of the market with a dedicated service after fleets congratulated the standards of its work. Fleet business is a significant part of Unipart's business plan for growth, which could also include expansion of the firm's international operations.

Marketing director Phil Cullen said: 'We see sizeable growth for our fleet business, as we do for many of our services. It is an embryonic business for us and it is not our policy to talk about targets, but the company is confident. There is significant business on the table and we are prepared to bring in a lot more. The value of business from fleet companies is running into millions of pounds.'