Summer Academy 2025 at AUTOHAUS: "Aabundance rather than scarcity"
The 34th AUTOHAUS Summer Academy, taking place from September 3-5, 2025, at the Grand Tirolia Hotel Kitzbühel, brought together top representatives from trade and industry to discuss the future of mobility and the automotive trade.
The event was led by Imelda Labbeé, Jürgen Stackmann, and AUTOHAUS Editor-in-Chief Ralph Meunzel. Supported by APP Auto Pflege Partner, Autosecure, Bezahl.de, Dataforce, Faaren, Meneks, and Porsche Consulting, the Summer Academy aimed to provide insights into the current trends and challenges facing the automotive trade.
Stefan Artz, Head of Claims at Allianz AG, illuminated the aftersales sector from an insurance perspective, emphasizing the need for closer collaboration between trade and insurers to fully exploit potential on both sides. Roman Havlasek, Head of Group After Sales at Volkswagen AG, spoke about the service area from a manufacturer's point of view, emphasizing the need for customer loyalty, cost optimization in trade, productivity increase in trade, dealer network optimization, and adaptation of offers to different customer groups.
Manufacturers were discussed at length during the event, with Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, and Porsche presenting their approaches to their current sales strategies. Achim Schaible, Chairman and Spokesperson of the Management Board of Volkswagen Germany, and Florian Kraft, CEO of Renault Deutschland AG, presented their approaches to current sales policy.
Alexander Buk, CEO of Seat / Cupra Germany, and Car Dealer Heinz-Dieter Tiemeyer (Tiemeyer Group) participated in a panel discussion on the agency and current distribution policy. Ulf Tore Hekneby, CEO of the Norwegian Møller Group, brought a new perspective to the aftersales business, highlighting the challenges in the Norwegian vehicle market, which currently has a 100% BEV registration quota, and the decline in the service business due to improving technology in electric vehicles.
Marc Odinius, Managing Director of Dataforce, provided detailed insights into the trends of the German new car market. Denis Gortema, CEO of the D'Ieteren Group, spoke about the structure of the Belgian company, which has been shaped by strong consolidation, and presented the development and establishment of new service concepts in the trading group.
Jürgen Stackmann, Director Future Mobility Lab Uni St. Gallen and Lecturer HfWU Geislingen, provided a comprehensive analysis of current market trends from the OEM and trade perspectives. Imelda Labbeé, President of the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers (VDIK), provided recommendations for future-proofing aftersales businesses, emphasizing the need for key KPIs such as revenue per service cycle, service contacts per vehicle in stock, and workshop efficiency.
The aftersales area was highlighted as a potential lever for future success in the automotive trade. Labbeé pointed out that the aftersales area is often not approached strategically enough and highlighted the challenges in this business area, including the shift of customers towards independent workshops and the deceptively high utilization of workshops.
Erik Meems, Owner and CEO of the Century Autogroep, provided insights into the Dutch vehicle market and the development of the Century Autogroep during a later session. Schaible particularly highlighted the establishment of the omnichannel sales approach, and the strategic establishment of digital elements such as financing options and digital showroom elements was crucial, according to him.
Stackmann gave hope for the future of the automotive trade, stating that it remains the central distribution pillar in sales. The used car business and aftersales were seen as potential levers for future success in the automotive trade.
The AUTOHAUS Summer Academy 2025 was an enlightening event that provided valuable insights into the current and future trends of the automotive trade, offering a platform for industry leaders to share their expertise and collaborate on finding solutions to the challenges facing the industry.
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