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| Type | Automobile importer and dealer |
|---|---|
| Industry | automobile |
| Founded | January 3, 1945 |
| Headquarters | Switzerland |
Key people | Martin Haefner, Chairman |
| Products | automobile |
| Website | www.amag.ch |
AMAG Automobil- und Motoren AG is a Swiss car importer and dealer for Audi, Volkswagen, Skoda, and SEAT cars, founded on January 3, 1945 by Walter Haefner. AMAG generated sales of CHF 4,4 billion in 2015 and employed 5,400 people.
Structure
AMAG is a group of Swiss companies owned by Careal Holding AG (Zurich). It includes AMAG Import which imports and buys cars from producers into Switzerland and sells them to local Swiss resellers, AMAG Leasing AG (a company making leasing contracts on some of the cars imported), most of the larger resellers of AMAG imported cars, and others.
AMAG and Chrysler
From 1948 through 1972, AMAG assembled cars—primarily Valiants, Lancers, and Darts supplied by Chrysler as CKDs. These were built to particularly high standards of quality—vehicles produced by Chrysler's own plant in Rotterdam would not pass AMAG's quality requirements—and were priced accordingly; the closed Swiss market was wealthy enough to tolerate high car prices.[1]
AMAG and Volkswagen
All brands of cars imported and sold by AMAG except Porsche, belong to the international Volkswagen group (Audi & Volkswagen in Germany, SEAT in Spain, Skoda in the Czech Republic). Porsche has a close relationship with Volkswagen, strengthened in 2005-2008 by increase of the part of Volkswagen capital owned by Porsche.
AMAG and Porsche
The car producer Porsche AG (Germany) started its own import company for Switzerland in 2008. Therefore, AMAG Import ceased importing Porsche vehicles that year, but the AMAG companies among Swiss resellers of Porsche will continue to sell this brand.