The company founded in 1985 by Peter Unger was based on an independent chain of workshops that carried out the maintenance and repair of cars as well as the supply of spare parts independently of the manufacturers. In the last few decades the workshop chain has grown to over 600 companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland with over 10.000 employees and the trade in automotive parts has expanded. ATU Auto -teile-Unger, which at times got into turbulence, was taken over by the Mobivia Groupe in December 2016. In addition to classic workshop operations and spare parts trading, the Mobivia Groupe is also active in car sharing, electric bicycles and technologies for digitally networked driving. In the interview, graduate engineer Andreas Schmidt, Managing Director Technology at ATU, explains the future strategies and comments on the expansion of the charging station infrastructure.
gcm: The Mobivia Groupe completed the acquisition of ATU Auto -teile-Unger in 2016. How will ATU position itself in the competition to the manufacturer workshops in the coming years?
Andreas Schmidt: We position ourselves as a partner for motorized mobility - independent of brand and with a clear focus on different customer needs. Since we are independent of the interests of a single manufacturer, we can advise our customers neutrally in the sense of "best advice". Compared to the authorized workshops, we have a significantly better price-performance ratio with the same quality. This is also proven by independent awards such as the “Service King” from FOCUS or the “Service Champion” from the newspaper Die Welt. The following message is important to us: The manufacturer's guarantee is retained even after an inspection by ATU. We are currently emphasizing this in a large-scale marketing campaign.
gcm: The automobile manufacturers rely on direct long-term customer loyalty as part of the networking of vehicles using e-calls. How does ATU meet these challenges?
Andreas Schmidt: Our position is very clear: We firmly believe that the vehicle data belongs to the customer. Every driver must be free to decide who to entrust their data to. The automakers are not allowed to have automatic and exclusive access to this Da
th received. That would not only limit freedom of choice, but also free competition. We meet the challenges in particular as part of the Mobivia Groupe, for example by having a highly innovative and rapidly growing solution in the Car Connect area in our portfolio with XEE.
gcm: The first electric fast charging station was recently opened on the premises of the ATU branch in Verden in cooperation with Allego. Will there be further offers for the electromobility segment in the future?
Andreas Schmidt: We are continuously expanding our range of services and products for electric vehicles. ATU has been offering a range of e-bikes and electric scooters for a long time.
With a view to e-cars, we are positioning ourselves as an automotive service partner for these vehicles at an early stage. In the coming months we will open at least 40 fast charging stations at ATU branches near the autobahn. This is part of a package of measures with which we would like to offer owners of electric vehicles a comprehensive service: starting with maintenance work and service repairs - with the exception of drive batteries - through the sale of accessories and charging. For this purpose, ATU has already trained over 900 employees in the field of HV technology.
Addendum:
Interview with Andreas Schmidt from the green car magazine issue I / 2018
Cover picture: Andreas Schmidt, Technical Director at ATU, - Copyright ATU
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