Company car choice is an emotive issue for all companies from SMEs up to blue chips. The higher up the pay scale the more emotive this issue becomes. It used to be simple, as you couldn't go wrong with a German premium brand for managers. From the fleet manager's perspective they may have been pricey but could be justified by all the whole life cost boxes they ticked.

However, times have changed and all three German brands have new entry models which have opened their showroom doors to a new breed of customers who previously would have bought a more mainstream model.

The rate of change has been fast. Take last year's new car registration figures published by the SMMT: Audi was by far and away the biggest seller of the trio notching up a record breaking 159,000 units (compared with BMW's 149,000 and Mercedes' 124,000; all considerably up year on year). What may surprise some user-choosers and fleet managers is that Audi outsold a number of erstwhile volume brands including Nissan (138,000) and Peugeot (103,000). Audi also came within a whisker of outselling the combined volumes of Korean upstarts Hyundai (82,000) and Kia (77,525). Indeed, Audi and BMW were only beaten in the volume stakes by the top three: Ford, Vauxhall and Volkswagen.

Suddenly the German club is looking a little less exclusive. So where should companies look for up-market cars that don't necessarily stray into the luxury sector?

Enter Infiniti. Coincidentally Nissan's upmarket brand was launched in 1989 at the same time as Toyota unveiled Lexus, but the first UK dealership did not open until 2009. Since then it has been a bit player here despite enjoying the high profile associated with the championship winning Red Bull F1 team. All this is about to change as the brand gears up to significantly grow European sales, expand its dealer network and begin producing its new entry-level Q30 in Sunderland.

Last year was the brand’s best ever in the UK but with just 746 units sold (2013: 386), the scale of its ambitions are just starting to become evident. From here onwards it plans to continue doubling annual volumes to create the visibility and desirability it needs to attract fleet business. Importantly, Infiniti has laid its cards on the table as an alternative to the premium German brands.

It's a tall order, of course, as Infiniti is still pretty much an unknown quantity. While the Germans will not be losing any sleep, they could start to see a number of SMEs having a look at the brand.

“Infiniti aims to have a strong fleet presence. This will grow as our range extends into more fleet desirable products. All fleet channels are of interest to us and SMEs represent a large sales channel which we obviously do not want to ignore, but profitability must come before volume,” said Hannah Bishop, Infiniti’s UK fleet manager.

“Currently Infiniti works with each centre to ensure any SME enquiries are looked after but the centre still remains the main point of contact. As our volume increases then there will be a requirement for every centre to look after their local fleets with a dedicated fleet sales representative,” she said.

Infiniti’s ambitions here rest largely on the success of a new product rollout which starts later this year with the Q30 C-segment car, which it hopes will attract user-choosers. This European designed entry-model is pitched against the Audi A3 and BMW 1 Series, as well as the Mercedes A-Class, with which it shares a Daimler platform.

An important element in the brand's growth plan is the expansion of its dealer network with sites serving major conurbations, and actively targeting local busineses. The job is already in hand with high profile names such as Vertu Motors and Glyn Hopkin joining the network last year. It currently has 10 sites with plans to grow to 15 this year, rising to 25 sites.

Infiniti started the process when its Q50 saloon launched 18 months ago with an Executive trim level aimed at high mileage business users with a low C02 diesel engine, high specification level and a contract hire rate that delivered a £30,000 car for £300 a month. The lower price of the Q30 should present an even more compelling fleet argument.