CITROEN has promoted James Parfett to national fleet sales manager in a move which follows the recent promotion of David Coop to sales director. Coop's promotion follows the departure of former sales director Ken Forbes to Emap Automotive - parent company of Fleet NewsNet - as managing director of its motoring businesses.

Parfett will spearhead Citroen's push for a greater share of the fleet and business market, and he has taken over as Citroen sales in the fleet sector have risen 36% in the first quarter of this year. Speaking at the Fleet Show on Tuesday, Parfett said: 'It is a very exciting time for me to take over this key role as, with the addition of the new Citroen C5, we have our strongest fleet model line up ever. Our fleet sales are growing rapidly and we still have more new products in the pipeline.'

Parfett's entire career has been spent in the motor industry and he previously worked for Ford and BMW. Since joining Citroen in 1993, he has held a number of positions prior to his most recent role of fleet operations manager.