Co-CEO, Sixt
Sixt-CEO im Hologramm-Interview: „Verschiedene Mega-Trends werden die Mobilität zukünftig bestimmen“
Der Autovermieter Sixt hat im März einen Rekordgewinn gemeldet. Co-CEO Konstantin Sixt spricht mit Markus Koch über die Zukunft der Mobilität und die Pläne des Familienkonzerns.
Nach dem höchsten Vorsteuergewinn in der Geschichte des Unternehmens will der Autovermieter aus Pullach den Umsatz im laufenden Jahr „deutlich steigern“. Mehr dazu lesen Sie hier: https://www.handelsblatt.com/unterneh...
About Konstantin Sixt
Konstantin Sixt, Co-CEO of Sixt, has discussed the company’s strategy and growth in several interviews between 2021 and 2022. In a 2021 podcast, he described the development of the Sixt+ car subscription service as a product of the COVID-19 crisis, stating that a taskforce was formed to identify what customers needed during the period of uncertainty. He said the company’s goal is to become “the largest and most successful mobility service provider on the planet.” In a 2022 interview, Sixt noted that the company had evacuated most of its staff from a technology center near Kyiv following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He identified internationalization, digitalization, and electric mobility as key growth areas for the Sixt+ subscription product, adding that subscription models could serve as an entry point for consumers to try electric vehicles. Sixt also stated that the company had purchased “4,500 Teslas” in recent months and described electric mobility as a central pillar of its corporate strategy. In another 2022 appearance, he cited a United Nations study projecting that two-thirds of the world’s population would live in cities by 2050, and argued that mobility would increasingly shift toward urban areas and usage-based models rather than car ownership.
Transcript (39 segments)
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Stefan Koch0:00
You are the world's fastest-growing brand in the car rental sector and when it comes to mobility of the future, you are way ahead. One of your CEOs is my guest today. I'm very much looking forward to Konstantin Sixt, Co-CEO of Sixt from beautiful Pullach near Munich. Now with me at Chef & Koch. We are one of the best-known and most innovative family businesses in Germany. Recently you reported the best results in company history and just now you have achieved the rise to the MDax. What does this success mean for you and above all, where is the journey heading? I want to talk about that now, as always, connected via hole technology, this time from Pullach near Munich. Warm welcome, Konstantin Sixt, Co-CEO of Sixt.
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Konstantin Sixt1:19
We operate a technology center near Kyiv. The situation there is very, very tense. We have evacuated the majority of our employees to Pullach or other neighboring countries where we provide apartments. We have budgeted a total of one million euros so far for evacuation and to help families, and of course to ensure continued employment within the group. Additionally, the Sixt Group has called for donations to employees, and as a company we are doubling that amount up to one million as immediate aid, in addition to measures such as providing mobility, trucks, etc. We hope that this terrible war will end soon.
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Stefan Koch1:19
Constantin, let's talk about Sixt and also about you. It's been about a year now since you were promoted from the board to Co-CEO of Sixt. How did it actually feel to step into your father's footsteps, together with your brother?
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Konstantin Sixt2:24
Indeed, they are not just big, but enormous footsteps we are stepping into. Not just my father's footsteps, but especially my parents' footsteps, but also the footsteps of generations of employees who have made us what we are over decades. Both my brother and I are very proud to fulfill this role, but we do so with a very great deal of humility and respect for this task.
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Stefan Koch2:58
I have a similar situation as you. My brother is quite a bit older than me and a fine guy. I love my brother, but sometimes it can be a relatively annoying thing with siblings. How is it with you? Is it easy to share a position with your brother?
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Konstantin Sixt3:13
I can only say for our company that it works very, very well. Perhaps that is due to the fact that we have a very high symmetry of interests. Yes, it's not just that we get along very well and trust each other, but in our shareholder role, we pursue the same goals, not only in our own careers, but we have only one thing in sight: the future and long-term success of Sixt. And I believe that if you can pull together in the same direction, such a dual leadership can be very, very successful.
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Stefan Koch3:46
Now I have Alexander in the pub sitting next to me and saying, 'Alexander, how is Constantin privately? How would he describe you?'
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Konstantin Sixt3:57
As a very good car rental provider, and vice versa. Otherwise, as at least as good a car rental provider. Aha, good answer, thanks.
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Stefan Koch4:11
The topic of family succession is often a very difficult one. For you, it all seems very simple: It was clear that the children would take over, the father moves to the supervisory board. Was it really that easy?
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Konstantin Sixt4:27
I don't know if it's easy, but I come into the company as a new employee. Often, new employees join the company, and both my brother and I have been working in the company for almost decades now, and many years already as board members. The departments we oversee are still the same. So it's certainly not easy. Yes, we live and breathe business, our company is a constant challenge, but we take it on very, very gladly.
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Stefan Koch5:04
As the saying goes, true heroes are born in crises. The pandemic was not an easy time for many companies. You, in this very time, took a very strong risk regarding the United States. You purchased Advantage Rent a Car out of bankruptcy, so to speak. What is your market position in the USA today and where do you want to go?
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Konstantin Sixt5:29
Indeed, 2020 was probably one of the most challenging years in our company's history. But as every crisis also presents an opportunity, we tried to see in this crisis not only how we come out of it, but we always told our employees and strongly believed ourselves: how do we come out of this crisis stronger? One of our mottos was from Ayrton Senna: 'In good weather you can easily overtake, but the real winners overtake in the rain.' And I think that characterizes our expansion in the USA, where we acquired ten of the largest airport stations through the acquisition, aligned for growth.
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Stefan Koch6:26
How important is the American market for you, and where do you want to go?
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Konstantin Sixt6:31
It is extremely important now. To come from the history: We started in 2011 in the USA, in Florida, with one station, actually mostly with a dream. The largest car rental market in the world, the American market, has a revenue potential of 26 billion dollars. And the ambition was never to be the biggest there from the start, but we wanted to be a player. And if you look at what happened in these ten years, a bit more than ten years, Sixt USA now has about 100 stations, generates nearly 25 percent of our group revenue, so at the revenue level on par with our core domestic market, Germany. So you can see that in ten years, it is growing more and more, not only becoming an international player but also an American car rental provider, and we are now number four in the American market and in some core stations like my airport it is already the market leader.
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Stefan Koch7:45
You are used to competition in Germany, you do very well in many other regions as well. In the USA, you are in the territory of the established players: Avis, Budget, Enterprise, Alamo, and now Sixt comes around the corner. What gave you the chance, what made you expand so strongly in the USA, and what was the challenge of competing against these established players?
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Konstantin Sixt8:15
First of all, we must say that we are still at the beginning of the journey. And I think what we are trying in the USA: first of all, the pie is huge. Indeed, the USA, especially, is a very, very competitive market. But our strategy is, on one hand, premium in terms of vehicles, but also in terms of service quality. And that is also what we are talking about: innovation at Sixt, not only in the USA but generally at Sixt, we place the customer at the center of our actions. We try to implement a radical customer orientation. And above all, we not only say we want to satisfy customers—we find that boring—but our goal is what we call 'customer insight ment' to delight customers, to turn customers into fans. And we don't always succeed, but that is our ambition.
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Stefan Koch8:15
And specifically your ambition in the USA: now the rise to the MDax has succeeded. Congratulations! What does that mean for you?
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Konstantin Sixt9:17
I believe the essential meaning is that it is an award for the successes of the past, especially for the very strong growth after the pandemic year 2020, and last year we outperformed the benchmark we were in by far. It is probably a result of the past. But Sixt looks less into the past; of course, it always looks to the future. We see, particularly this year, strongly rising gasoline prices in the USA. It is said that from about four dollars per gallon—and we are still cheap compared to Germany—that driving behavior changes.
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Stefan Koch9:17
Do you also notice that as a car rental provider?
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Konstantin Sixt10:05
Well, of course, we notice it not only ourselves—I stand at the gas station and pay my bill, we all see what is happening there. But on the demand side, we don't feel it yet, or we can't measure anything. But I believe, indeed, if fuel prices rise so strongly that a real change in consumer behavior occurs, we might feel it. But we are confident that it can normalize soon.
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Stefan Koch10:42
Hertz made big headlines a few months ago: 100,000 Teslas were ordered. Whether they will actually be taken and whether Tesla can deliver remains to be seen. But what does that mean for you—e-mobility and electric driving?
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Konstantin Sixt10:58
Electric mobility as a whole is one of the most essential pillars of our corporate strategy for the coming years. Incidentally, we have also bought Teslas; I think we have added 4,500 Teslas to our fleet in the last few months. Our fleet in the Netherlands is 100% electric. Sixt has invested a double-digit million amount in charging infrastructure. For us, the near future and also the medium-term future is clearly electric mobility.
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Stefan Koch11:31
Mobility of the future is a big topic, a big growth story. You are Co-CEO—how should I imagine Sixt in the long term when it comes to mobility?
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Konstantin Sixt11:43
I think there are various megatrends. If you look at a UN study, by 2050 two-thirds of the world's population will live in large cities and metropolises. That means mobility will shift more to large cities. Combined with another megatrend, which is that more and more people perceive ownership as burdensome and want to use mobility based on usage. I think that is the big strategic headline for mobility of the future. How is Sixt positioning itself? Alongside our classic car rental product, which I think is ideally positioned for this global change, we have various initiatives: like the Sixt subscription in Germany, where we offer mobility very flexibly, as well as carsharing, or in the USA specifically with our Ridelead platform with Lyft partners, and in Germany thousands and tens of thousands of taxis bookable via the Sixt app. This way, we can offer mobility from one minute to several years from a single source with one login, one payment method, in one app.
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Stefan Koch13:19
Lyft has just been mentioned. I want to pick up on that. What does the partnership with Lyft mean to you?
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Konstantin Sixt13:27
I think when you look at Lyft's track record, especially compared to its peers in the US market, it is incredibly impressive what has happened there in such a short time, in a segment where nobody expected a new player to enter the market. We are correspondingly proud to have Lyft as our partner for the USA. For two things: one, we are the partner for ride-hailing, where we make Sixt products bookable, and also Lyft customers can book our rental car product. So it's a very, very exciting initiative, I believe for both companies.
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Stefan Koch14:10
Let's come back to the big picture. You look far into the future. Topics like flying taxis, autonomous driving—how do you imagine the future? You say yourself you're a good car rental provider and by now much more. But Markus Koch, when he turns 70, if there are still counters at Sixt, what would I rent there?
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Konstantin Sixt14:34
Well, I believe you are 70 in 30 years from now. But I think the classic car will still be around for a very, very long time. I believe that what you're playing at—will there still be a car where I sit in it and drive? Yes, it will exist. But in the not too distant future, there will also be autonomous vehicles. Sixt is an absolute pioneer in the mobility segment. Last year at the IAA, together with Intel and its subsidiary Mobileye, we announced a partnership to enter autonomous driving. This year in Munich, we will have 50 Level 2 vehicles in test operation. Level 2 means the car drives autonomously but a driver is present to monitor. And we want to start Level 4 operation at the end of the year or beginning of next year, which will allow the car to drive by itself and the driver will no longer be legally classified as a driver but as a passenger. That is our big goal for autonomous driving. And you can see how close it is—it's not that far away. By the end of the year and next year, we will have 100 to 200 cars in test operation in Munich, and we want to roll it out to several major German cities. So I believe autonomous mobility is getting closer, and it's a bit like the famous ketchup bottle—you don't know when you tap it what will come out, but when it comes out, it comes out fast. I think that is one of the big trends.
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Stefan Koch16:05
When you think so far into the future, what can change? And there, too, I think our mobility platform is very well positioned to play along. Sixt has reinvented itself again and again over the generations. You have always taken risks—the expansion into the USA is a good example, and the expansion into the USA has borne many fruits. From your perspective as Co-CEO of Sixt, where does the company's greatest long-term success potential lie?
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Konstantin Sixt16:34
I think the most important word already appeared in your question: long-termism. A very, very large part of our strategy, our corporate philosophy, and our employee culture is geared towards long-term and sustainable growth. That means we don't just think in quarters, but we think in several years and sometimes even in decades when we make business decisions. And I think that makes the big difference compared to other companies: we don't just want to be successful next year, we also want to be successful in ten years. We invest in growth, we invest in technology; we have never invested as much in software development as this year. We always have the future in mind, for the sake of very strong growth.
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Stefan Koch17:26
Let's move on to the audience questions. You already mentioned the topic of Mobile. I'll save that question. The collaboration with Intel: Benny asks if you are interested in the details of the new FreeNow cooperation. He sees incredible potential. Maybe you can tell us a little about that.
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Konstantin Sixt17:46
Yes, we have entered into a very exciting partnership for our Sixt product, where we present and advertise our content, i.e., our carsharing vehicles, on one of the largest mobility platforms in Europe, and make them bookable for millions of FreeNow customers.
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Stefan Koch18:09
Another question from Hassan: What are the biggest challenges of the platform strategy with Sixt ab?
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Konstantin Sixt18:16
Well, there are naturally very, very many challenges, but also very many opportunities. If you look at the progress of the Sixt platforms as they are today compared to the launch three years ago, we have not only expanded the carsharing content, but we have integrated Tirol, we have integrated various other mobility forms, we have integrated Lyft, we have integrated French ride-hailing providers, and thus we are one of the leading and broadly diversified mobility platforms in the world.
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Stefan Koch18:51
Adrian asks: The transition from a classic car rental to a 360-degree mobility provider—did you have to break down walls internally at Sixt, so to speak, old structures, old thinking?
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Konstantin Sixt19:06
I don't think so. The company is very, very open, very open to innovation and changes. The employees, I believe, enjoy the platform and the future, and when it runs, I believe people are very proud of their work and enjoy what they do. So I don't think it encountered very great resistance.
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Stefan Koch19:33
That's a nice segue to the final question, dear Constantin, which every guest at Stefan Koch's show is asked: If Sixt were a person, what kind of person would it be?
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Konstantin Sixt19:44
That is naturally a very good question. I think it is not one person, because that would not do justice to the thousands of employees worldwide. Rather, I think it is the sum of all Sixt employees. What characterizes a Sixt employee at the end of the day is an incredibly consistent focus on customer satisfaction.
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Stefan Koch20:16
Constantin, many thanks for your time. I am curious to see where the journey goes for Sixt on the stock exchange, and of course also for you and your brother. Thank you very much for your time, thank you for letting me be there. It was fun. Until next time. That was the second episode of 'Chef und Koch'. In two weeks, we will continue with the CFO of Hello Fresh. At the latest then, our little format will succeed in rising to the DAX. I look forward to having you again. Of course, we will also take your questions again. Until next time.