The Doleschal car dealership has a new owner: Daniel Bauer will take over the long-established Weilheim company on May 1st, but the proven team around Birgit Doleschal and Petra Hofer will remain unchanged.
“This is a stroke of luck for us,” say the two sisters.
Weilheim - Birgit Doleschal and Petra Hofer were only recently able to see how difficult it is to find a successor in their own industry, namely at the Weilheim car dealership Schwaiger: It had to close its doors at the end of last year after 88 years because the owners Daniela and Wolfgang Bielz couldn't find anyone who wanted to take over the business.
Doleschal (58) and Hofer (56) are also at an age at which they have been asking themselves the question for a long time: How will things continue in a few years?
"It would have been the hardest for us if at some point we had to stand in front of our employees and customers and say: We can't go any further," says Doleschal.
Successor was no stranger
The sisters recall that it was due to a “pure coincidence” in a conversation with Bauer that it did not turn out that way. The 39-year-old was no stranger to him, having worked in a Renault dealership in Munich-Pasing between 2005 and 2014. “We kept in touch, for example when you borrowed a car,” says Bauer. In 2014 he did his business administration degree at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce “and already had independence in the back of his head,” as he says. But first he started at the Renault Retail headquarters in Munich, where he was responsible for the small dealers in south-west Upper Bavaria, where they also had to do with each other again.
The decisive factor came in the summer of 2019: "My boss said that many of our dealers are older - I should ask how things are going with the successor," remembers Bauer.
"That was a clean own goal," says Hofer with a laugh.
Because in the conversation with the two sisters, the unresolved question of succession came up until Doleschal simply asked in her typical open manner: "Wouldn't you like to take over our dealership?"
Car dealership has more than 60 years of tradition
This laid the foundation. Bauer considered the matter, and at a first joint meeting in autumn 2019, when it was supposed to be just about a closer look, everything was actually already clear: "It turned out how well our ideas fit together," says Doleschal. And Hofer adds: "We couldn't have imagined handing our business over to a corporation."
Because the dealership has a tradition in Weilheim that goes back more than 60 years.
In 1960, parents Otto and Heidi Doleschal opened a workshop at the Esso petrol station - first for BMW, then Renault, the sisters report.
In 1972 the Renault dealership was built at its current location.
"Together with the Ammon company, our parents practically co-founded the industrial park on the Weidenbach," says Hofer.
Apart from a few renovations and small extensions, the house has remained largely unchanged since then.
In 199, Doleschal, who has been with the company since 1984, and Hofer, who joined in 1993, took over management from their parents.
All employees remain
That’s all over now, both are only employees at Bauer. But they can live with it, "because Daniel will certainly bring in new ideas, but the basic philosophy will be retained - and all 18 employees on board, that was very important to us," says Hofer. Bauer confirms this: "A company is nothing without its employees," he emphasizes. He is happy that he can rely on Doleschal and Hofer's many years of experience, “because every company has its own peculiarities that you first have to get to know. Also the customers, of course, for whom nothing will change at all, ”he emphasizes.
The handover was actually planned for January 1st, but was delayed by Corona. Otherwise, however, the pandemic did not cause any problems, emphasizes Doleschal: "Renault is well positioned with its electric cars, we have come through the pandemic well so far." Bauer has no plans for major modifications, and he is also happy if the MedeleSchäfer car dealership is directly opposite opens its brand new “Retail Excellence” center: “That's good, especially since we hardly overlap in the product range,” says Bauer.