The department will be headed up by former Vauxhall fleet operations director Karl Howkins who has been appointed to the newly created role of commercial director.

Reporting to managing director Steve Zanlunghi, Howkins takes over responsibility for developing sales of new cars across the Fiat Group: for the Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Abarth, Jeep and Chrysler brands.

Howkins brings both dealer and manufacturer experience gained during 25 years in the automotive industry, most recently as managing director, Opel Netherlands and before that fleet operations director, Vauxhall Motors.

‘I am very much looking forward to the challenge,’ he said. ‘I have a strong belief that you need to adopt a team culture with staff, dealers and suppliers. For Fleet it's essential that we compete in all sales areas and demonstrate a consistent approach to supply. I can assure you that we'll do that.’