Hirtreiter already had a financial stake in a Volkswagen/Audi dealership during his time at the publishing house. When his financial investment was in danger of being lost, he took over the business without further ado and entered the automobile trade around 20 years ago. Franz Xaver Hirtreiter had been thinking about setting up his own business for a long time. He set about the new task with great commitment. Since then, he has bought up many family businesses or founded new ones. Over the years, he has managed to weld the companies and their employees into a homogeneous automotive group. Today, AVP Autoland (Deggendorf/Lower Bavaria) sells over 10,000 new and used cars every year. The new car portfolio includes the brands Audi, Volkswagen, Porsche, Suzuki, Skoda and Seat.
On his 60th birthday, the award winner took an important step for a family company: the generational change. In July 2016, he handed over the chairmanship of the management board to his son and withdrew from the operational business. "kfz-betrieb" editor-in-chief Wolfgang Michel presented the award at the Executive Circle 2016 evening event at Schloss Steinburg in Würzburg, saying: "With the Executive Circle Award 2016, the editorial team is recognizing the outstanding life's work of a major automotive dealer in Germany. I am delighted that this year's award goes to Franz Xaver Hirtreiter. Anyone who, as a lateral entrant, manages to develop a single dealership into an economically very successful and, despite its size, very family-oriented multi-brand automotive group in just 20 years really deserves the award for an outstanding lifetime achievement. Congratulations!"
Award winner Franz Xaver Hirtreiter commented on the award as follows: "I always wanted to start my own business. However, I came to the car trade like the virgin to the child. To save my tax savings, I had to take over an almost insolvent car dealership 20 years ago. This has grown into today's AVP with 16 businesses and 700 employees with a 1.5 percent return on 400 million in turnover. I am very pleased to receive this award for my automotive life's work. Now my son is at the AVP helm. Unlike me, he learned the car business from the bottom up. I wish him and the AVP team all the best for the future."
Franz Xaver Hirtreiter is not only delighted about the award for his life's work, but also about the new phase in his life with more time for his family and his hobbies: his passion has been sailing for 30 years. But he has never spent more than a week on board his motor yacht. That is about to change. He still has the company with him every day. In addition to his three children and his partner, he also loves his life's work "AVP Autoland".
"kfz-betrieb" presented the award at the Executive Circle, a forum exclusively for major car dealers in Germany. The "Executive Circle" took place for the second time at Steinburg Castle in Würzburg. The trade medium invites only the top management level of "Germany's major car dealers" to this still young event format. The aim of this event is to establish a cross-brand exchange and network highly qualified expertise.
"kfz-betrieb" is the most widely read trade magazine in the automotive industry and has been informing the automotive trade and service sector for over 100 years. "kfz-betrieb" is the official organ of the German automotive trade (ZDK), the professional interest group for around 38,000 car dealerships and workshops. News from the entire automotive industry is available at www.kfz-betrieb.de and in the daily newsletter. The parent company Vogel Business Media is Germany's largest trade media company with 100+ trade journals, 100+ web portals, 100+ business events as well as numerous mobile offerings and international activities. Its headquarters are in Würzburg. The company celebrates its 125th birthday in 2016.
