Press Release

SIXT appoints long-standing SIXT manager Nico Gabriel new Chief Operating Officer (COO) and thus consistently continues to combine the branch business and digital mobility services in one Management Board department

• SIXT has stood for premium service as well as innovative strength through technological expertise for decades. With the appointment of Nico Gabriel, the company is resolutely continuing on the path to merging these strengths in keeping with its ONE strategy.
• In his 16-year career with SIXT, Gabriel has not only shaped the core business of traditional car rental from the ground up, but also made a name for himself in the industry as Managing Director of DriveNow and in the area of new mobility.
• Erich Sixt: “With Nico Gabriel, a highly respected and long-standing colleague is strengthening our Management Board. I am convinced that he will carry our premium promise into the future and contribute significantly to our growth strategy. Our deep and sincere thanks go to his predecessor, our long-standing COO Detlev Pätsch. Mr. Pätsch has sustainably advanced SIXT in his more than 30-year career through his relentless professional and personal commitment. Without his dedication, SIXT would definitely not be where it is today.”

Pullach, January 27, 2021 – The experienced mobility expert and long-time SIXT Operations and Tech Manager Nico Gabriel will be joining the Management Board of Sixt SE as Chief Operating Officer (COO). The company is thus taking the next logical step towards fully merging its traditional, service-oriented car rental business and innovative mobility services based on the ONE mobility platform. Nico Gabriel, who has been successfully driving the transformation of SIXT into a modern mobility provider for 16 years, is thus now responsible for one of the company’s divisions which will be of decisive importance for the future development of SIXT. As part of its premium promise, SIXT is committed to providing its customers with high-quality services via its more than 2,100 stations worldwide, while at the same time offering completely digitalized products consistently geared to customer needs on the ONE mobility platform that is available internationally.

New mobility pioneer of the first hour
With the appointment of the 43-year-old Nico Gabriel to the Management Board, an experienced manager who started off as a trainee at SIXT in 2004 and knows the company inside out is now joining the Board. As the former Operations and Business Development Manager for Scandinavia, the Middle East and Australia, Gabriel not only brings international experience in SIXT’s core car rental business. He has also made a name for himself in the industry over the course of his 16-year career, particularly in the area of new mobility. As the Managing Director of DriveNow for many years, Gabriel played a key role in shaping the free-floating car sharing business and, in a joint venture with BMW, built it up into one of the largest and profitable car sharing companies in Europe. He was also responsible for building up SIXT’s electric fleet. Most recently, Gabriel was the divisional Board member in charge of Mobility Operations, which bundles all of SIXT’s digitization initiatives in the branch business, the SIXT share car sharing offering, and the mobility platform ONE.

Erich Sixt, Chairman of the Management Board of Sixt SE: “With Nico Gabriel, a highly respected and long-standing colleague is strengthening our Management Board. I am convinced that he will carry our premium promise into the future and contribute significantly to our growth strategy. Our former COO Detlev Pätsch has sustainably advanced SIXT in his more than 30-year career through his relentless professional and personal commitment. Without his dedication, SIXT would definitely not be where it is today. For example, under his responsibility, our station network as well as our turnover have quadrupled and our fleet has grown from fewer than 10,000 cars to over 250,000 vehicles today. SIXT has thus grown from being a regional car rental company to become the international mobility market leader in Germany and one of the leading international mobility providers in Europe and worldwide. On behalf of the entire Management Board, I would like to thank Detlev Pätsch from the bottom of my heart for this achievement and wish him all the best for his planned retirement at the age of almost 70.”

Alexander Sixt, Member of the Management Board responsible for Strategy and Organization at Sixt SE: “SIXT has stood for premium service and at the same time for innovative strength through technological expertise for decades. By appointing Nico Gabriel to the position of COO, we are resolutely pursuing this path in line with our ONE Strategy. We want to continue to satisfy our loyal customer base by offering premium services in our branches, while at the same time improving the customer experience even further with the help of the consistent digitization of our processes and products. In concrete terms, this means that we will expand our network of stations and service employees and at the same time drive the digitization of our products, such as the connectivity of our vehicles, forward.
In his long career at SIXT, Nico Gabriel has been able to demonstrate his extensive expertise in a wide range of operations functions and played a key role in shaping the digital transformation of our company. He thus ideally combines know-how from the branch business with digital expertise. We are particularly pleased that this promising area of the Management Board is being taken over by someone from our own ranks. From trainee to Board member – there could hardly be a better calling card for our internal career development.”

Friedrich Joussen, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Sixt SE: “SIXT is positioning itself for the future by appointing Nico Gabriel to the Management Board. He takes over an excellently positioned department from our current COO Detlev Pätsch and now faces the task of completing the merger of car rental and mobility services and strengthening our position as an integrated global mobility provider. On behalf of the Supervisory Board, I would like to thank Detlev Pätsch for his achievements and his many years of loyalty. He will leave the Management Board of Sixt SE on March 31, 2021.”

Nico Gabriel, New Chief Operating Officer of Sixt SE: “SIXT is on an exciting journey from being a car rental company to becoming the world’s leading provider of digital mobility, and I have been able to accompany and help shape the company on this journey for many years. In my new role, I am very much looking forward to bridging the gap between maximum local customer orientation with a growing branch network and the digitization of our products, services and processes. To this end, we will bring all our innovative strength and technological expertise to bear. To achieve this, I can count on a team of great employees with many years of experience, whose dedication has played a key role in our success story thus far.”

About SIXT
Sixt SE with its registered office in Pullach near Munich, is a leading international provider of high-quality mobility services. With its products SIXT rent, SIXT share, SIXT ride and SIXT+ the company offers a uniquely integrated mobility service across the fields of vehicle and commercial vehicle rental, car sharing, chauffeur services and car subscriptions. The products can be booked through one single app, which also integrates the services of its renowned mobility partners. SIXT has a presence in around 110 countries around the globe. The company is characterized by consistent customer orientation, a lived culture of innovation with strong technological expertise, the high share of premium vehicles in its fleet and an attractive price-performance ratio. The SIXT Group generated revenue of EUR 3.31 billion in 2019 and ranks as one of the most profitable mobility companies worldwide. Sixt SE is the parent company of the Group and has been listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange since 1986 (ISIN ordinary share: DE0007231326, ISIN preference share: DE0007231334).
https://about.sixt.com

Press contact
Sixt SE
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Sixt Central Press Office
Tel.: +49 – (0)89 – 74444 6700
E-mail: pressrelations@sixt.com