DAEWOO has denied it is giving up on the fleet market despite revealing plans to restructure its fleet department that could see up to 15 people lose their jobs.

In future Daewoo will conduct its fleet business through its developing network of wholly-owned sales outlets and franchised dealers. A dedicated head office team will continue to provide support for leasing customers and assist showroom-based fleet sales specialists.

A Daewoo spokesman insisted that the centralised fleet personnel would be specialists and would not be covering fleet from another department.

He said: 'The change in the operational structure will provide the fleet specialists in Daewoo's network with more local support and greater autonomy. This will provide added penetration in the fleet market over the next 24 months.

'Daewoo believes a decentralised fleet operation will put the business where it should be and provide the right combination of customer support and local representation that corporate and business customers appreciate.' He added that the company was consulting over the future of members of its fleet team, although final decisions have yet to be made. Daewoo's fleet sales grew in 2000 and the company was anticipating more sales in 2001 with the Tacuma compact MPV and facelifted Matiz.