BMW is celebrating its largest ever share of the UK contract hire market in 2002, according to figures from the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA).

This year has seen BMW's share of the leasing market leap 2.7 percentage points to 8.8%. In 1999, BMW's share of the market was 5.7%, and in 2001, 6.1%.

Bernard Bradley, BMW general manager – corporate sales, said: 'Excellent residual values and competitive wholelife costs have been the hallmarks of BMW for many years and have contributed to our record share of the market.'