KIA is making a big play for new fleet business by offering free driver training with every car sold.

The South Korean manufacturer is hoping the move will pull in new business as it continues to update its range of cars.

At the show Kia pulled the covers off a new compact MPV, the Carens (pictured), as well as releasing the first pictures of an as-yet-unnamed lower-medium sector car to be unveiled next year.

Kia’s head of corporate sales and remarketing, Bob Austin, aims to lift fleet sales from 8,500 a year now to 30,000 per annum by 2010.

He said the driver training offer, to be carried out with the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM), was in response to duty of care issues.

‘As soon as the car is registered using a fleet code we give the details to the IAM, who will contact the user. This applies to contract hire as well as outright purchase customers.’

Kia is also shaking up its corporate sales network by inviting dealers to apply to become fleet specialists. Austin anticipates there being 20 to 25 of these by the end of the year.

‘The fleet manager will have a bespoke contact and the person at the other end will be knowledgeable in all aspects of fleet management,’ he promised. A new fleet sales team is being set up to deal with larger fleets.