"We believe solus is the only viable model", he said. He said that Peugeot had received from "only a handful" of ex-Peugeot dealers enquiries to act as servicing agents. The quantitative element of the contract is still being refined by the company. Sutton said that some dealers might not continue with the franchise and this would affect the outcome. The company expects to end up with a network "broadly similar to today", said Sutton. Evans said that Peugeot planned to gradually increase sales in the UK from its current 8.1 per cent market share by 0.1 per cent a year. He said that big rises in sales such as that achieved by BMW and Mini had led to problems with servicing capacity. Peugeot is planning a major investment at its Ryton plant and is soon to open negotiations for selective regional assistance with the Department of Trade & Industry. Peugeot parent PSA chairman Jean-Martin Folz is expected to ask the Department of Trade & Industry for £40m in assistance and to ease planning restrictions.