The Foundation

On November 15, 1915, the then 28-year-old forge master Albert Sigg founded the forge shop of the same name at Kreuz 11 in Augsburg. In 1927 he had authorization to represent BMW, NSU and HOREX motorcycles.

The war years

During the war years 1939 - 45 the company was subordinated to the German Wehrmacht. In the night of February 24, 1944 the company was completely bombed out. In 1945, Albert Sigg was taken prisoner. On June 28, 1945, Josef Still, who had been married to his daughter Maria Sigg since 1942, took over the business.

The post-war years

In the post-war years, the company enjoyed an excellent rate of incoming orders and quickly grew to 20 employees. At peak times, up to 500 motorcycles were put on the market each year.

From two-wheeler to four-wheeler

Due to the declining number of orders for motorcycles, Albert Sigg oHG applied for authorization to represent the French make Panhard in 1955. In the years 1958 to 60, BMW models were distributed alongside these. In 1957, Albert Sigg oHG and its 35 employees moved to Neuburger Strasse 150 in Augsburg-Lechhausen. When Albert Sigg died on August 15, 1961, Josef Still took over the sole management of the company.

Albert Sigg oHG becomes authorized Opel dealer

The first contacts with Adam Opel AG were already established at this time. The Sigg company first became a sub-dealer and then, from January 01, 1967, a recognized authorized dealer of Adam Opel AG. In the first year, they sold 250 new Opel vehicles.

In 1967, the then 24-year-old Albert Still joined the sales management of his father’s company. At this time, the company had an annual turnover of 1.9 million Deutsche Mark and 43 employees.

In the years that followed, Albert Sigg oHG continued to grow steadily. In 1972, Albert Still, the grandson of the company’s founder, took over the shares and became a member of the company’s management. In this year, the company had 52 employees and achieved an annual turnover of 9.37 million Deutsche Mark.

In 1973, a new salesroom were built in Neuburger Strasse, which was “as special as it is charming”. On March 17, 1973, the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper saw “a dominant feature set in Neuburger Strasse”. In this year, the Sigg company already sold 650 new vehicles.

The first wave of expansion

In May 1971, the company Opel Still KG was opened in Füssen. On March 22, 1980, Albert Still opened the car dealership of the same name in Neusäß near Augsburg as a GM and Lada dealership. In 1981, the Still dealership became an authorized Honda dealer.

Also in 1981, the Augsburg Autocenter was built at Robert-Bosch-Strasse 5 in Augsburg. Founded in 1984 as a brand-independent used car center, the Autohaus am Olympiapark fulfilled the requirements of the future. In 1985, the Opel-Gräfe company in Kempten was taken over. The Haeberlen dealership was created from this.

1987 Albert Sigg GmbH relocated to Robert-Bosch-Strasse 5 and AAC-Albert Sigg GmbH was founded.

In the following years, November 1987 to December 1989, seven more car dealerships of the brands Opel, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Volvo and Mitsubishi were opened or taken over.

The second wave of expansion

With the fall of the Berlin Wall, activities were extended to the territory of the new federal states. As early as April 1, 1990, the first car dealership was taken over in Berlin Köpenick. The following months were characterized by numerous takeovers and new establishments in Berlin, Chemnitz, Halle, Dresden, Schwedt and Zwickau. In addition, the previous area of operation in Bavaria was not neglected with takeovers or opening of further car dealerships in Straubing, Wolfratshausen, Hof and Augsburg.

The foundation of AVAG Holding AG

On December 29, 1991, among other things due to the considerable expansion in the direction of the new federal states, AVAG Holding AG was founded. Because of the unquenched hunger for expansion and the size of the company, the AG appeared to be the most suitable form to convince further outside capital providers.

The third wave of expansion

Rather by chance, Albert Still started the expansion towards Eastern Europe. Building on a personal friendship, the first commitment in Croatia was launched in 1993 shortly after the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia. In Croatia, which qualified as a risk country, AVAG soon achieved the status of a “quasi-importer for new Opel vehicles” and expanded its presence in the following years to twelve operating sites today. In 1994, a dealership was established in Poland, which has since become the largest Polish Opel dealer.

In 1995, the company moved to Hungary’s capital, Budapest, where another Opel dealership was established.

Finally, the first acquisition of a dealership in Austria followed in 2000. In March 2005, Still landed a major coup with the majority takeover of Vienna’s largest Opel dealer Opel & Beyschlag. At the beginning of 2008, Still took over the largest Opel dealer in Salzburg, ÖFAG, and thus became the largest Opel dealer in Austria.

Change of name to AVAG Holding SE

Roman Still joined the board of AVAG Holding in October 2010 and took over the DIA division as Chief Sales Officer.
In 2011, AVAG Holding AG was converted into a European stock corporation, Societas Europaea and, from that point on, operated under the name AVAG Holding SE.

After CEO Dr. Volker Borkowski left AVAG in August 2012, the brothers Albert C. and Roman Still jointly lead the family business as equal CEOs in the fourth generation.
As of August 1, 2014, AVAG Holding SE took over all locations of Auto-Staiger GmbH, the oldest Opel dealer in Germany. Specifically, these were the locations in Stuttgart, Leinfelden, Waiblingen, Göppingen, Schwäbisch-Gmünd and Esslingen, all of which were converted into exclusive Opel locations. Likewise, all 220 employees were be taken over.
From November 2014, AVAG Holding SE added Hyundai to its brand portfolio. Locations in Munich, Ingolstadt, Giessen and Marburg.

Only two years later in March 2016, Autohaus Dresden integrated Autohaus Peschel with its three locations Dresden-Klotzsche, Dresden-Kaditz and Lichtenberg into its corporate family. On June 1, 2016, AVAG took over the three Toyota locations of Frankengarage in Nuremberg, Fürth and Erlangen.

 

Trade in Transformation

With the Logisticpark Stollberg, the company added a 20,000 square meter logistics center for automotive spare parts to the AVAG umbrella in 2016. More than 1,000 customers place orders here every day.
AVAG closed the 2018/19 fiscal year with record sales of 2.4 billion euros and put around 134,000 vehicles on the road during this period. During the subsequent Corona pandemic, AVAG continued to prove itself as a reliable partner and exceeded the total sales figure of two billion euros several times in a row despite the difficult general conditions.
With the successful integration of Auto Eisner 2021, initially with 14 Austrian locations and over 300 employees, AVAG continued on its path of considered expansion. This also included the integrations of Toyota Mitterbauer, Auto Zschernitz, AMZ Mannheim, AMZ Stuttgart and AMZ Munich. With Auto(h)aus Europa in Berlin, AVAG is selling the Volkswagen brand Škoda for the first time. With the Business Development Center, completed in 2021, AVAG increases its inbound and outbound marketing. In the same year, Albert K. Still announced his retirement after 60 years in the automotive industry. His successor on the Supervisory Board is Johannes Hall. Innovative products such as the Autoabo, which is handled by the subsidiary “Sorglos günstig fahren GmbH”, as well as the digitalization of car dealerships and the trend toward electromobility are topics that will continue to accompany AVAG in the future.