NATIONAL Van Rental is extending its 5,000-strong commercial vehicle fleet by 500 in a bid to cope with industry growth.

The group plans to add the multi-marque vans during the next three months as part of an expansion plan across its commercial and consumer units.

Neil McCrossan, vice-president sales and marketing for parent company National Car Rental, said: 'There has been significant growth in the industry over the last two years and van rental has proved to be a strong market for us.

'More and more of our fleet customers are now looking to us to provide their van rental solutions as we have proved to have the scope to cope with all their requirements.

'Whereas before they may have used a specialist van rental provider, through our investment in new fleet and growing our branch network we can now deliver all their van rental needs.'

From May, National will introduce the first batch of Renault Trafic and Ford Transit Connect vans and from July the Iveco 35 series will also be available to rent.

The Vauxhall Combo and Vivaro will be added to the fleet, as well as Ford Transits and Transit Connect, Peugeot Boxer, Partner and Volkswagen LT.

National's van network has expanded to 85 branches during the past year and McCrossan says the group will continue to invest in new branches to ensure it meets customer demand.

The group's current fleet includes small vans such as the Peugeot Partner 800 DLX, Ford Transit 280s and large vans like the Iveco 35S11.

McCrossan said: 'We will continue to develop our network to ensure we have complete coverage in the UK to meet customer demand. We will also continue to invest in new fleet and ensure we have the latest van models to meet our customer's requirements.

'We have already seen significant growth in the public sector, manufacturing and fleet servicing areas. In addition consumer business has also been a strong market and we will continue to capitalise on this success. We are looking to grow both our corporate and consumer business.'