The 27th Automobil 2012 was a Success (Satis Shroff)
Es gab zufriedene Gesichter auf der 27. AUTOMOBIL, die am heutigen Sonntag
in Freiburg zu Ende ging. Von „zufrieden“ über „sehr zufrieden“ bis hin zu
„außergewöhnlich gut“ lauteten die Einschätzungen der Aussteller über die
vorangegangenen drei Messetage. „Wenn das Jahr 2012 insgesamt sich so
entwickelt wie die Freiburger AUTOMOBIL, dann wird es ein gutes Autojahr, dass
möglicherweise sogar 2011 leicht übertreffen könnte“, fasste Dieter Rüd, Citroen-
Händler und Sprecher der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Freiburger Autohäuser seine
Eindrücke zusammen.
Hauptthema auf allen Ständen der AUTOMOBIL war die Frage nach den alternativen
Antrieben. Hier wurden intensive Gespräche geführt. Oft, so Klaus Schömmel,
Inhaber des Autohauses Nord, Vertreter der Marke Toyota, seien die vermeintlich
hohen Preise für Hybrid- und andere alternativ angetrieben Fahrzeuge bemängelt
worden. „Wenn man aber dem Kunden sachlich erläutert, was an Aufwand und
Technik in so einem modernen Fahrzeug steckt, dann wird der scheinbar hohe Preis
akzeptiert!“. Eine ähnliche Beobachtung machte auch Robert Scheffler, Mitglied der
Geschäftsleitung der Mercedes-Niederlassung Freiburg. Auf dem Daimler-Stand
interessierten sich sehr viele Besucher für die Zukunftstechnologie des
Forschungsfahrzeuges F125. Der wasserstoffgetriebene Prototyp löste die Frage
nach der Versorgung mit Treibstoff aus: eine entsprechende Tankstelle steht in
Freiburg zur Verfügung.
„Wir kommen wieder!“, so lautete bei den befragten Händlern das Fazit – egal ob von
Matthias Krüger (VW) oder von Dieter Rüd (Citroen), Klaus Schömmel (Toyota),
Hans-Jörg Märtin (BMW) und anderen Markenvertretern. Auch Newcomer Reinhard
Kleißler will auf der AUTOMOBIL 2013 wieder mit dabei sein: „Ich habe alle meine
Ziele erreicht: ich konnte die Marke Wiesmann bekannter machen und verdeutlichen,
dass diese edlen Fahrzeuge hier bei mir in Freiburg zu kaufen sind!“ Kleißler kann
sich zusätzlich freuen: voraussichtlich zwei der Nobel-Sportwagen hat er verkauft.
Was Verkäufe angeht, so waren die Händler „zufrieden“ bis „sehr zufrieden!“. Ford-
Händler Ernst & König machte aus seinen Verkaufserfolgen keinen Hehl: immer
wieder klang die „Verkaufserfolgshymne“ durch die Messehallen.
Über 20.000 Besucher waren an den drei Tagen auf dem Freiburger Messegelände
und informierten sich über die aktuellsten Produkte der Auto-Industrie. Manches war
so neu wie bei Toyota: hier gehen einige Ausstellungsfahrzeuge noch in der Nacht
zum Montag auf die Reise: nach Genf, zur nächsten Automobilmesse!
„Freiburg ist eine ganz eigene Automobilmesse – sie ist Neuwagen-, Präsentationsund
Verkaufsschau in einem. Nirgendwo bekommen die Firmen unmittelbar so klare
Informationen über Kundenwünsche wie bei uns!“, sagte Messechef Klaus W.
Seilnacht. Toyota hat dies offensichtlich erkannt: deren Deutschland-Chef Tokiashi
Yasuda war am Freitag einer der Messebesucher gewesen…, aber auch
hochrangige Vertreter von Ford, Opel sowie Wiesman Automobile haben sich
persönlich von der AUTOMOBIL in Freiburg überzeugen lassen.
Are You Tuned In? (Satis Shroff)
Cars are mostly mass-produced wares. But how can you make them special, individual? Through tuning. At the fair 4 in Freiburg there was the biggest new car fair in South Baden, and the 2nd Tuning and Sound Convention, with great cars and entertainment for the visitors, because cars have always had a cult-status in the society. I knew two workers from Romania and Sri Lanka who worked in a microchip factory. No education, no scope in Germany, aside from the factory job, but they were contented and drove big, fat Mercedes Benz cars. It was a sign that they’d arrived in Germany. The car was the symbol of attainment in their lives.
Back to the tuning. Caroline Schubert from Gundelfingen, who is the Tuning Convention Girl, was looking for a successor. Katherina Kuhlmann, a TV moderator, racing driver and model and Jo Scholz were also there. Besides the Miss Tuning and Sound Girl competiton there was also body-painting , grid-girls, games amid the smell of petrol and rubber permeating in the air, in addition to sound measurement, chip-tuning and car-styling.
At this year’s Tuning and Sound Convention some 50 promoters were present with their products: 22 latest brands from nine countries: Audi, BMW, Citroen, Dacia, Fiat, Ford, Hundai, Iveco,,KIA, Mercedes Benz, Mini, Mitsubishi, Opel, Peugeot, Renault, Seat, Smart, Subaru, Toyota, Volvo and, of course the exclusive Wiesmann automobiles.
There was even a Miss Freiburg competition and the winner could take part in the Miss Baden-Württemberg competition, which in turn could be used as a jumping-pad for the Miss Germany selection. No wonder the current Miss Germany Ann-kathrin Kosch sat in the jury. As a treat for soccer fans you could pose with the UEFA Champions League Cup.
As in the year 2011, the passion for cars seems to increase unabated, despite the financial problems of European countries. Although tuning seems to be a domain for men, where there’s a lot of horse-power involved, beautiful girls aren’t very far. Most of the visitors were obviously male but the number of ladies interested in automobiles is rising gradually. Styling is ‘in’ in the case of cars and female models.
BLACK FOREST CLASSIC (Satis Shroff)
Who hasn’t dreamt as a child of cars? As boys you read comics and were fascinated by the sleek, streamlined form of the batmobile, a Porsche, a Bugatti or Ferrari. I went to the Black Forest Classic Days at the local fair (Messehalle) at the invitation of Dr. Franziska Pankow, who runs the Freiburg Commerce Tourism and Fair. And there they were: the Oldtimers from different epochs.
Why are we fascinated by old cars (as well as new ones)? How much does it cost to gather old cars? Where can you find beautiful cars? And what does the exhibition-cum-fair called ‘Automobil (e) have to show lovers of Oldtimers?
Dietrich Grossblotekamp, an author on cars and the PR man of the German Automobile Veteran’s Club in South Baden says: ‘The term ‘old car’ is not precise for an Oldtimer. Such a car is a historical vehicle, at least 30 years old in original condition or restored. Old cars become Oldtimers when they fulfil certain conditions.’
Four historical cars that caught my eye were: a pre- World War II one, and from the fifties, sixties and seventies.
One of them was the stately rarity called Sunbeam Speed 20 Monte Carlo from the year 1934. The English firm manufactured bicycles first, then motorbikes and since 1899 also cars. The Chrysler Sunbeam was the last model in the year 1977. The Sunbeam in question was a pre-war, black English Sport limousine of the upper class. 30 such wagons were produced, of which only five exist today. It has a three litre six-cylinder motor with 72 horse-power and attains a maximum speed of 135 km per hour.
The next attractive car was the Fiat 500 Topolino, which was produced in Turin (Italy) in 1936 in three versions. The Italians dubbed it ‘Topolino’ which means a wee mouse. The exhibition model belongs to the series C, which was built from 1948 till 1955. All in all, 370,000 left the factory. It had a 4-cylinder motor with 16,5 HP.
Jaguar began producing cars in 1931 and till then it had manufactured motorbike side wagons. There was a Jaguar MK II, a sporting limousine built in 1967, with a 6-cylinder motor and a 165 HP. The maximum speed was more than 200 km/h. Good for the autobahn on the left spur (track).
There was even a Volkswagen 1303 LS Cabrio. The first carosserie factory in Osbabrueck started rolling in 1949. This one was built in 1978. I love cabrios. The car had a 4-cylinder motor with 60 HP and used to cost 8840 euros in 1972. In Deutsche Marks that would be quite a lot. Exactly 320281 VW cabrios were produced from 1949 till 1980 by Karosseriefabrik Karmann. It might be mentioned that there’s an Oldtimer Stammtisch, where Oldtimer fans sit around a table and talk about their cars, in Holzhausen (South baden). Holzhausen had also BMW-motorbikes like the one-cylinder R25 and the two cylinder R51, mopeds built by Messerschmidt, BMW-Isettas, BMW 600, an unrestored NSU Prinz 2, and even a Goggomobile. A Mercedes 170 DS from the year 1953 was also on exhibit.
The Hippies who drove all the way via Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and sold their VW T1 buses in Katmandu to chillax with hash in Nepal’s capital and Pokhara, before flying home was also on exhibit. We Germany called the bus ‘the bulli’. The closed version of the bus was called ‘Die Ratte’ (rat), perhaps because you could scurry with it everywhere.
Whether the cars in the old days were better is a matter of taste. In the old days the automobiles were individual in design and upholstery, unlike the uniform carosseries constructed in the wind canals today.
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