In January, diesel sales accounted for 36.83% of the fleet market, compared to 32.24% last year, a rise of 24.52%.
During the month, British businesses bought 31,418 diesels, compared to 25,231 the year before.
Manufacturers enjoyed varying fortunes in the diesel sales battle for the first month of the year, with Ford seeing sales leap by just over 62% year-on-year to 6,731 units. Second-placed Vauxhall sold 4,664 diesels to companies, a rise of more than 16%, but Volkswagen saw sales falter, down 9.11% to 3,531.
Renault nearly doubled sales year-on-year to 3,417, while Peugeot was almost static on 3,257.
Audi's sales fell by more than quarter to 1,224, but Toyota enjoyed massive growth, with sales up 86% to 1,129.
Citroen diesel sales fell by a quarter to 1,036, while the last two in the top 10 saw a rise in sales – BMW up 16% to 889 and Volvo up 1% to 770.
Ford models also topped the diesel sales charts for fleets, with the Mondeo leaping 80% to take 2,958 sales and top place. The Ford Focus was second, on 2,318, a 41% rise, while the Renault Megane leapt 260% to 2,043 sales.
The Vauxhall Vectra took fourth, with an 8% rise to 1,523 and the Astra took fifth on 1,510, up 4.5%.
Taking the rest of the top 10 places in the diesel market were the VW Passat and Golf, followed by the Peugeot 307 and 406, with the Vauxhall Zafira taking 10th spot. Further down the sales figures, the Jaguar X-type diesel achieved 557 sales to put it in 17th place, behind the BMW 3-series in 14th (644), and Audi A4 in 15th (610).
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Vauxhall retains top fleet slot despite Ford rise
VAUXHALL kept its position at the top of the overall fleet sales charts in January, despite a leap in sales for rival Ford.
A rise of nearly 2% year-on-year in overall Vauxhall fleet sales put it in first place with 19,814 units, while Ford jumped 28%, but was just kept in second place with 18,862 sales.
A distant third was Renault, with 7,857 sales showing a 46% rise, while Peugeot sales were up 8% to 6,278.
Volkswagen fell from 2003's third to fifth, a fall of 11% to 5,419.
Despite Vauxhall's dominance, Ford topped the model charts in January, with the Ford Focus retaining its role as fleet favourite, with 8,674 sales, a third up on last year.
Vauxhall's Corsa sold 5,704 units, up 4%, while Vauxhall Astra sales dropped a third to 5,458. The Ford Mondeo recorded a 51% rise year-on-year to 4,799 and the Renault Megane leapt more than 120% to 4,570.
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