TOYOTA has reorganised and rebranded its fleet operation in order to spearhead a new sales push into the business sector. Toyota Fleet has replaced the ambiguous title of Toyota Corporate Business, which was originally chosen to describe the manufacturer's early, low-profile move into the small business sector.

The company is now a significant fleet player, however, boasting major accounts such as BT, Tarmac and Granada, and last year sold 43,320 cars and commercial vehicles into fleet to secure a 3.61% market share. Mark Hall, Toyota Fleet's general manager fleet sales, said the firm's wide range of vehicles and competitive wholelife costs made it an ideal fleet player and that the new, enlarged fleet department was designed to maximise the manufacturer's opportunities in the corporate market. Key appointments include five regional fleet sales managers who will report to a national fleet sales manager and be responsible for dealing with fleets running more than 250 vehicles.

Behind the scenes, Toyota has created two fleet accounts co-ordinators to provide a single point of contact for all major accounts, while other new appointments will include a light commercial vehicle manager. 'With a new name, a new structure and an increased level of dedicated personnel, we fully expect to break our fleet sales record once again by surpassing 43,000 units and increasing our fleet market share towards 4%,' said Hall.