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What actually happens to car dealerships when internal combustion engines are a thing of the past? They could become transformation agencies for a traffic turnaround, says the mobility house Golbeck in north-east Berlin. And do it yourself.
The driving force behind the new concept is Christoph Golbeck. “We have to think about alternatives to the car,” says Golbeck, whose parents founded the car dealership in 1982 – back then as a Trabant dealership. Christoph Golbeck, 43, looks like a mixture of businessman and friendly university professor as he springs out of the offices of the mobility center. He combines a flat cap and suit waistcoat with dark blue jeans and sneakers with yellow stripes. On the one hand, he explains the required rethinking in the automotive industry from an entrepreneurial perspective. In addition to his 15 years of experience in the family business, Golbeck has a doctorate in political science with a focus on business ethics. That resonates when he talks about that around fifty percent of all car dealerships “according to serious studies” will no longer be on the market in a few years. Quite logical to reorient yourself there. But he also follows what he calls “intrinsic motivation”. “Cars are often bad for people and the environment,” says Golbeck, who is also a passionate racing cyclist. “We have a 1.5 degree target to achieve. And traffic contributes 20 percent to Germany’s total emissions. In addition, there are health hazards, for example from fine dust and the enormous amount of space taken up.” Achieving climate neutrality can only succeed if car dealerships become multipliers of a traffic turnaround. A traffic turnaround with more diverse and different mobility. But he also follows what he calls “intrinsic motivation”. “Cars are often bad for people and the environment,” says Golbeck, who is also a passionate racing cyclist. “We have a 1.5 degree target to achieve. And traffic contributes 20 percent to Germany’s total emissions. In addition, there are health hazards, for example from fine dust and the enormous amount of space taken up.” Achieving climate neutrality can only succeed if car dealerships become multipliers of a traffic turnaround. A traffic turnaround with more diverse and different mobility. But he also follows what he calls “intrinsic motivation”. “Cars are often bad for people and the environment,” says Golbeck, who is also a passionate racing cyclist. “We have a 1.5 degree target to achieve. And traffic contributes 20 percent to Germany’s total emissions. In addition, there are health hazards, for example from fine dust and the enormous amount of space taken up.” Achieving climate neutrality can only succeed if car dealerships become multipliers of a traffic turnaround. A traffic turnaround with more diverse and different mobility. And traffic contributes 20 percent to Germany’s total emissions. In addition, there are health hazards, for example from fine dust and the enormous amount of space taken up.” Achieving climate neutrality can only succeed if car dealerships become multipliers of a traffic turnaround. A traffic turnaround with more diverse and different mobility. And traffic contributes 20 percent to Germany’s total emissions. In addition, there are health hazards, for example from fine dust and the enormous amount of space taken up.” Achieving climate neutrality can only succeed if car dealerships become multipliers of a traffic turnaround. A traffic turnaround with more diverse and different mobility.
Just like the mobility house Golbeck is trying to do. On site it looks like this: The Autohaus-GmbH continues to exist, Christoph Golbeck is its authorized signatory, i.e. deputy manager, which his father still holds. There is also the mobility house GmbH, here is Christoph Golbeck managing director. Both GmbHs are housed in the same buildings at two locations. In Berlin Buch and here in Berlin Friedrichshain. Behind the street-facing showroom with meeting rooms are customer service, offices and workshops in two building complexes. In between there is an open space with parking spaces, four electric cars are lined up next to each other under a billboard. “Quiet, green and fast: Mobility for Berlin – and jwd” is written on it. Tires are piling up around the corner, and behind one of the turquoise gates a small Volkswagen is being repaired – one with a diesel engine. The maintenance of conventional motor vehicles is still the main business here. Still.
Because Christoph Golbeck is in the process of shifting the business focus: towards the sale and repair of electrically powered vehicles – cars, vans, scooters, motorcycles and cargo bikes – charging solutions and solar systems, towards comprehensive advice for both private and business customers . Golbeck often emphasizes that the mobility house is not a start-up. “This is a transformation project, the outcome of which is completely open,” he says. It’s still important to start that way. “Economically speaking, we have trust capital in car dealerships,” says Golbeck, the entrepreneur. As a political scientist, he even sees “transformation agencies” in car dealerships. Taken together, this means for him: “If we have built up so much trust capital to millions of customers, then it is ideal Transport turnaround there as well.” The concept is not only intended to attract new customers, but above all to encourage people to rethink who might not otherwise consider alternative forms of mobility. “We are non-discriminatory on the road, also towards SUV drivers,” says Golbeck with a wink.
A central approach of the Mobility House GmbHis a scaling concept in addition to the transformation of your own car dealership: other car dealerships should be advised and supported in following a similar path. There have already been initial inquiries via a contact form on the website, both from small car workshops and from large car dealerships from all over Germany. In order to be able to implement the concept on a large scale and in the long term, Christoph Golbeck and his business partner, the transformation consultant Sebastian Olényi, are looking for investors. Car dealership locations are to be bought up together and transformed into mobility houses in close cooperation with their operators. As in the Golbeck company on Frankfurter Allee, car dealerships can continue to operate However, new value chains are also to be set up in the buildings – providers of e-mobility are to be involved in close cooperation. “In this way, space, resources and loyalty to regular customers are retained,” says Golbeck. And car dealership operators could adapt to climate change and the rapidly changing vehicle market without having to worry about financing the transformation themselves.
There is no question that Christoph Golbeck is convinced of his approach. He shows this with wordy and complex explanations. However, the response was mixed, he says, quoting a colleague in the industry: “Well, Christoph, that’s your path, good luck with it – but it’s so special, I wouldn’t do the same.” Others, like the chief master of motor vehicles -Guidance, praise the transformation effusively and some customers are also enthusiastic. However, this is rarely expressed in concrete purchasing behavior. “A lot is asked, little is bought,” sums up Golbeck.
The reasons for this go beyond individual responsibility. “You also have to be able to pay for new mobility easily,” says Golbeck. E-cargo bikes, such as those from business partner Citkar , could cost up to 16,000 euros. Financial incentives, such as the electric subsidy for company cars, should also be available for such vehicles on a larger scale.
The mobility company Golbeck is already working in a targeted manner with companies that then use larger quantities of e-transporters for deliveries in the commercial sector, for example. Or provide their employees with company bicycles instead of cars as part of the so-called job bike model, including bicycles without an electric motor. “We don’t sell bikes, but we broker them,” says Golbeck. Their main focus is on e-cargo bikes, but other forms of mobility are also part of the solution.
How he imagines the mobility of the future? “As many cars as necessary, as few cars as possible,” Golbeck recites the credo of the ecological traffic club VCD . Changing the drive type is not enough. “Then traffic jams are just as long.” It must also be a question of expanding cycling infrastructure and local public transport. In the mobility house Golbeck one can well imagine cooperating with municipal transport companies in the future to sell public transport tickets. Other collaborations are also conceivable. Goldbeck says: “electromobilityis a good way to initiate the turnaround in traffic, to also pick up drivers who cannot imagine anything else at the moment anyway. But that must not be the last step.”