Chevrolet is hoping a facelifted version of the Aveo hatchback will continue to boost its rapidly expanding European sales.

The American marque has been instrumental in record sales for General Motors Europe last year.

GME has seen its influence rise by 22% over the last five years and its market share has grown by 9.5% to its highest point since 1999.

Chevrolet has sold 440,000 vehicles in Europe since 2002.

Sales growth has been rapid, with 33.6% growth from 2006 to 2007 across the whole of Europe and 10% in western Europe.

It is now the third largest carmaker in the world and plans to keep the momentum moving through dealer network expansion and a growing product range.

Despite the success across Europe, the UK does not feature in the top five countries buying Chevrolets.

But there are nevertheless hopes that the new Aveo – which is Chevrolet’s biggest European seller – will appeal to fleets.

The new five-door version of the car goes on sale in May, with a three-door incarnation due to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show.

A quarter of all sales of the Aveo in the UK are expected to be to fleet customers, most of which will be under the Motability banner.

“Chevrolet does quite well with Motability, but there will also be a daily rental element,” a spokesman for the company said.

However, a lack of diesel engine could be responsible for relatively low sales in the UK compared with the rest of Europe.

A UK spokesman said no diesel version was planned until the all-new next generation of Aveo.

“In this generation of car, there is no point in developing a diesel engine,” said the spokesman.

“In the next generation, in three or four years’ time, there will be a whole new generation of engines and that will include a diesel.”