The programme enabled senior fleet decision-makers to experience the very latest driving technologies at the renowned winter driving course at the Thomatal Testing Grounds near St Michael in Lungau, high above the city of Salzburg.

Technologies on test included the latest all-wheel drive technology twinned with winter tyres, and linked to the latest safety features such as traction control, hill start assist and electronic stability programmes.

Models available from the Insignia range included the adaptive all-wheel drive (AWD) version of the sport performance OPC model, and AWD versions of the new Insignia 2.0 litre BiTurbo CDTi and the AWD 2.0 litre Turbo with 250bhp.

All models were equipped with the very latest in electronic stability programs (ESP), traction control and hill start assist – and the fleet drivers were able to test the safety features to the very limit under the icy and slippery driving conditions.

There were also adaptive AWD versions of Opel’s new compact SUV, the Mokka, available for test driving in both petrol and diesel formats.

The winter driving program was attended by fleet buyers from contract hire and leasing, daily rental and large corporates across Europe. They included executives from leasing companies such as ALD Automotive, Arval, Athlon, GE Capital, and LeasePlan, rental companies including Avis, Enterprise, Europcar, Hertz and Sixt and large corporate fleets such as Ecolab, IBM, Liberty Global and Shell.

The winter driving programme comprised three different types of driving course, all of them a mixture of slippery ice and compressed snow to test the cars to the maximum, and the afternoon session was given over to a driving competition to see which drivers had taken on board most of the techniques they had been taught during the morning sessions.

In terms of results, it was a LeasePlan one-two with Jerzy Szyjkowski of the international leasing giant pipping colleague Camilo Salgado by just one hundredth of a second. A well deserved third place went to Ed Spitzer of Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

Ian Hucker, director European fleet and light commercial vehicles, thanked everyone for their time and added: ‘There has been a serious message behind our winter driving training program, which not only teaches precision and handling skills in some of the most extreme conditions drivers are every likely to experience, but demonstrates what is possible with the very latest safety systems that our cars are equipped with.

‘For fleet operators that work in areas where there is a lot of snow during the winter months, especially in the more mountainous regions of mainland Europe and the Nordics, the latest all-wheel drive technology and inbuilt safety features such as these are ideal. They provide fleet drivers with better traction, truer acceleration and greater grip while driving on slippery surfaces and are a definite boost to fleet safety,’ commented Mr Hucker.

‘This just one of a number of training courses Opel offers, from beginner and fleet training all the way up to professional driver level culminating in an A-licence recognized by the DMSB, the governing body for motor sport in Germany,’ he added.