Schmidt has plots blocked after putting off investments in sales network

Michael Schmidt, chairman of Automobile Bavaria, the leading BMW and MHS Truck&Bus dealer, is considering expanding the MAN truck dealer network to Central and Eastern Europe. “I don’t rule out making investments in other countries. Of course the crisis has hit these countries, but, even in a time of crisis, what you lose in one country, you can gain in another. This is an opportunity to take over dealerships, which, due to a lack of liquidity or to a weak management, can be acquired at a low price. I have offers to expand the MAN dealer network in Prague, Warsaw, Bratislava and Sochi, in Russia, where they are investing 14 billion dollars for the Winter Olympics, and where I could set up a truck servicing centre, given the construction companies out there,” Schmidt added. In Romania, MHS Trucks&Bus has ten servicing centres and one sales centre in Bucharest, boasting an around 20% market share. “I had two investments for MAN underway when the crisis hit, one in Timisoara and one in Cluj, which cannot be cancelled. If the crisis hadn’t struck, we would have started new investments in Bacau, Constanta, Oradea, Craiova, where I already have plots purchased for MAN (…),” said Schmidt.