Carmakers are being advised to concentrate their fleet sales activities on the public sector.

Compared to the retail and corporate fleet sectors, public sector fleet spending is likely to remain relatively unaffected by the economic troubles being forecast.

"When companies and individuals are reducing their spending on cars thanks to a general downturn, the public sector tends to be less vulnerable because their finances are not as affected by short and medium term fluctuations in the economy,” said Network Automotive managing director Colin Bruder.

“This makes the public sector a part of the fleet market that is very attractive to motor manufacturers seeing new vehicle sales under growing threat from the effects of the credit crunch.”

However, according to Mr Bruder, some manufacturers are still lacking the skills needed to cash in on this stable fleet market.

"There is a wide variance between manufacturers when it comes to this type of specialist expertise and resource.

"Some large manufacturers are surprisingly ill-equipped,” he said.