Amag: Strong start to the jubilee year

AMAG completed its move to Cham smoothly and successfully launched an initial subscription business model. CO2 is and remains a challenge for the future.

Morten Hannesbo, CEO Amag Group AG: "All business units, all employees and all partners of the individual brands pulled together. The results were correspondingly pleasing. With a market share of 29.4 percent, our brands were able to make significant gains again and the new organization at Amag Retail, our garage operations, is beginning to bear fruit."

Problem-free move to Cham
In the fall of 2019, Amag moved into its new headquarters in Cham. In this context, large parts of the employees from the locations Schinznach-Bad, Buchs ZH, Baden and Zurich have been brought together in one place and in a new working environment.

Morten Hannesbo: "It was great to see how smoothly everything worked. With new ways of working and short decision-making paths, we want to become even more agile and stronger in terms of implementation. I can already see that we are succeeding in this after the first three months here in Cham."

Adjusted structure at Amag Retail
Last year, AMAG Retail's organization was adapted to better exploit the synergies of a nationwide organization. Retail now operates in 13 regional alliances. The aim is to better bundle competencies and optimize market cultivation.

The growing demands on sales and aftersales in terms of new technologies and training can also be better met in this way, and competence vis-à-vis the customer can be increased. The Bentley business in Zug was successfully developed within Amag Retail. In 2019, 27 vehicles were sold.

Porsche Sports Cup Suisse 2019
First AG can also look back on a very successful year. Not only economically, with 1408 new cars sold and 51 Porsche Classic Cars sold, but also in sporting terms: The First racing team won the team ranking in the Porsche Sports Cup Suisse 2019. The first Classic Center for historic Porsche vehicles is also successful.

Digitization and forms of mobility
New technologies, new mobility needs and digitalization are changing the classic automotive business significantly in the medium term. As an automotive retailer, Amag wants to play a leading role here. That is why it founded the Innovation & Venture LAB in 2018. On the one hand, digital transformation projects and, on the other, investments and commitments in new forms of mobility are bundled here.

Swiss startups for the future
The first results include the "autoSense" joint venture with Swisscom and Zurich Insurance. The mobile vehicle assistant with app function is now used in around 40,000 vehicles.

Since fall 2019, the Innovation & Venture LAB has been offering "Clyde", a subscription model for cars. With Clyde, customers can rent a vehicle on a monthly basis and thus make a vehicle choice that is tailored to their needs and the season.

In addition, Clyde's subscription model enables risk-free entry into electromobility: for example, users can drive an electric car for a few months and gain experience before buying a car.

The third start-up is "noviv". It develops innovative and sustainable mobility concepts for companies and real estate managers. Both target groups face the challenge of offering mobility to employees or tenants.

In the case of companies, this can be business trips by employees or commuting to and from work. In the case of residential areas, tenants can use the service during their free time.

With noviv, Amag develops a customized, sustainable and local mobility concept with e-car, e-scooter and e-bikes and supports customers in the introduction and implementation as well as in operation.

Volkswagen back in first place
The Amag brands have recognized the trend towards efficient, smaller vehicles. This has enabled them to achieve good sales figures.

At the top of the hit parade for the third time is the Škoda Octavia, followed by Switzerland's best-selling SUV, the VW Tiguan, and the perennial favorite, the VW Golf.

• Volkswagen: Once again in first place. 34,445 cars purchased, still the most popular car brand in Switzerland.
• Audi: In the fiercely competitive premium segment, Audi increased its sales slightly. The brand with the four rings delivered a strong performance in e-mobility with 683 Audi e-tron registrations.
• Skoda: The brand can look back on another record year, proving once again that its products are "made for Switzerland". With 24,103 registered vehicles, the brand has increased by a quarter compared to the previous year.
• Seat: The Spaniards celebrate a new record with 14,377 registrations.
• VW Commercial Vehicles: The brand achieved a new unit sales record in 2019. A total of 7512 light commercial vehicles were registered. In addition, there are 5206 vehicles with M1 registration.

Morten Hannesbo: "It was one of our best years, Seat and Škoda with new records, all other brands with growth - what more could you want?"

True.

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