The growing Leon model range had enabled the brand to set ‘lofty expectations’ for 2014, he said, with corporate sales as a priority. As a result, year to date end user orders have doubled, he added, and the brand is aiming for a 3% share of the market as a medium-term goal.

Over half of SEAT’s UK fleet sales are the Leon, and end-user demand is pushing the model mix towards the top of the range, with 45% of customers taking FR trim levels or higher and 20% opting into the most powerful 184bhp diesel or Cupra hot hatch.

Among the car’s recent wins, Centrica is taking almost 600 Leons in the mid-spec SE or SE Ecomotive trim levels. SEAT has also partnered with Audi to win a 700-vehicle essential user fleet deal with Zurich, where drivers can either take the Leon, move into a larger SEAT model or shift sideways into an A3. It’s a partnership McDonald wants to echo elsewhere.

But the rest of the range remains just as vital. McDonald sees salary sacrifice potential for the Mii city car, while a refreshed Ibiza with new engines and a Leon-style interior is due next year. The forthcoming C-segment crossover, due in 2016, will also be vital for increasing company car sales, but it isn’t expected to overtake the Leon.

At dealer level, the brand has introduced standards for groups with large fleet capabilities, and plans to increase the network of SME-facing local business development managers. SME sales are expected to rise 30% to 1,500 units during 2014, momentum SEAT hopes to maintain during 2015 when the network expands from the current 20 to a planned 25 sites.

‘It was identified as an opportunity we haven’t got into in the past, so a real opportunity for the brand to grow,’ McDonald said. ‘Our plan isn’t to grow that tomorrow. It’s to grow that over a three year period where we invest more in fleet, in the team, in speaking to end user customers and getting them to demonstrate our car.'