The Japanese brand is on course to sell 5,000 new cars by the end of this year and told Motor Trader this will be the first step in a bid to hit 10,000 sales in two years time.

The brand, which is imported into the UK by International Motors, has experienced a 25 per cent sales growth in the year to date and was proportionally one of the biggest year-on-year growers in the September plate change month.

“Our average sales per dealer are currently too low,” said Paul Tunnicliffe, Daihatsu's UK managing director. “We'll do 5,000 sales this year through 115 dealers and we need to get that up because our manufacturer is greedy and aggressive for more volume. “As a small car franchise they see what's happening with the environmental lobbying and they want their share of it. “They're holding our feet to the fire for more volume which is good news for our dealer network as they can all increase their volumes quite dramatically without taking on extra staff or advertising,” he said.

Tunnicliffe said the brand, which since 2000 has sold between 4,000-4,500 units a year, was often treated as a secondary business by its dealers who either specialise in used car sales or have a main franchise. “We need to focus our dealers on growth through incentives and giving them enough showroom traffic and that's my responsibility as the importer. All of the dealers can deliver this extra volume,” he said. To encourage the network to hit the 5,000 mark by the end of December the brand has increased dealer margins on all new cars from 10 to 13 per cent for any business that sells over 100 cars.