Biethahn, Niels

Kolke, Reinhard

OPUS - Publikationsserver der Universität Bamberg

Mobility in Engineering and Logistics – Technology and Market 
Research 
Prof Dr-Ing Reinhard Kolke 
ADAC e.V., Test & Technical Services, Otto-Lilienthal-Str. 2, 86899 Landsberg am 
Lech, reinhard.kolke@tzll.adac.de 
Prof. Dr. Niels Biethahn 
Institut für Automobil Forschung (im RIF e.V.) und Professor für Unternehmenssteue-
rung und Projekt Manager für das Thema Automotive Management, BITS Business 
and Information Technology School GmbH, 
Reiterweg 26b, 58535 Iserlohn, Niels.Biethahn@bits-iserlohn.de 
The central challenges of our times include limiting greenhouse CO2 emissions, reduc-
ing our dependence on fossil energy sources, banning toxic air pollutants (especially 
from urban agglomerations) all while ensuring ongoing individual mobility. Electric 
mobility has significant potential in enabling us to live up to these challenges. There is 
a wide choice of electric drives – electric only, electric range extender, plug-in hybrid 
or fuel cell – which will replace internal combustion engines for certain uses. Especial-
ly in urban agglomerations, where distances are short and the environmental re-
strictions strict, these concepts present compelling advantages. In order to conquer a 
significant share of the market, electric vehicles must become much more affordable to 
greater numbers of consumers than they are be today – primarily because batteries are 
so expensive. The prerequisite for realising the potential environmental advantages of 
electric vehicles is the availability on a large scale of electric power from regenerative 
sources. In view of their great potential and as a consumer protection organisation, 
ADAC performs thorough vehicle tests to determine their everyday utility, safety, eco-
friendliness and cost-effectiveness, to make the market for new vehicle concepts more 
transparent and to create a basis of comparison between the new and conventional 
drives. The first paper about "Electric Vehicles and Customer Requirements" by Rein-
hardt Kolke and Andrea Gärtner focuses on consumer expectations in terms of e-
mobility based on the returns of a survey. Additional insights in terms of sustainabil-
ity, safety and utility on the basis of the range of vehicles available on the market to-
day will be given.  
The analysis of comprehensive market survey activities is the focal point also of the 
second paper, Consumer Testing for Customer Satisfaction – an Empirical Study 
Based on Passenger Cars in Germany. This publication by Jan Hendrik Schreier and 
Niels Biethahn presents the results of an empirical study of the predictability of cus-
tomer satisfaction on the basis of ratings from consumer tests for passenger cars. The 
study was based on the ADAC Customer Barometer market survey aimed at annually 
determining the motorists’ satisfaction with their cars. This survey evaluates over 
https://doi.org/10.20378/irbo-51549
156     Reinhard Kolke, Niels Biethahn 
 
20,000 interviews and determines the leading car brand and car model in each vehicle 
class. The project correlates the overall rating and category ratings of the professional 
ADAC Autotest car reviews with the motorists’ overall satisfaction and satisfaction 
with relevant aspects. Autotest car reviews are a consumer test published by in Ger-
many and by other national consumer protection organisations across Europe. This 
makes Autotest one of the most powerful consumer tests in terms of coverage in Eu-
rope. The paper proceeds from presenting comparable studies to deriving a procedure 
for correlating consumer tests and customer satisfaction surveys and applying it to-
wards making recommendations for consumer protection testing. 
 
The third contribution, by Christian Rühl and Niels Biethahn, entitled “Quantitativer 
Einfluss gesellschaftlicher Trends auf den Fahrzeugabsatz in Deutschland"  identifies  
which quantitative impact a large number of qualitative factors have on vehicle sales 
per vehicle class in Germany. Starting from a previous work of the authors, the specif-
ic vehicle sales are forecasted on the basis of an extensive data set with the use of an 
Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The study confirms that Artificial Neural Networks 
can be used for the prediction of vehicle sales if the specific data records for a long-
term period are available. In addition, the investigation shows that complex problems 
with many indicators can be analyzed by using a large number of input variables 
which – in some cases – need to be transferred into latent variables. 
 


Mobility in Engineering and Logistics : Technology and Market Research

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Mobility in Engineering and Logistics : Technology and Market Research

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