Sponsored partner portrait. When the doors of the Mercedes‑Benz branch in Neu‑Ulm opened on 1 December 2025 under a new nameplate, drivers, fleet customers and employees felt the immediate relief of continuity — not disruption. The Sterne Gruppe’s takeover of the Ulm/Neu‑Ulm branch kept around 200 jobs on site and reassured Mercedes owners across a wide swathe of southern Germany that service, parts and van support will remain available locally.
How the Sterne Gruppe came together
The Sterne Gruppe is a recently formed, owner‑managed network created by two established family dealer groups — KreuterMedeleSchäfer and Abel+Ruf. The joint venture was designed specifically to participate in Mercedes‑Benz’s competitive process for selling some of its own retail branches, and the Neu‑Ulm transaction was the group’s first major acquisition from Mercedes. The new company now operates a multi‑site footprint across Bavarian Swabia and the Allgäu region, bringing together local expertise, volume and a regional service infrastructure.
On paper, the Sterne Gruppe presents as a substantial regional partner: the group lists locations including Riedlingen, Memmingen, Biberach, Dornstadt, Günzburg and Neu‑Ulm on its corporate site, and public reporting places the network at roughly 15 locations covering a market area of about 10,000 km² from Donau‑Wörth via Augsburg to the Allgäu. The portfolio goes beyond passenger cars to include vans, trucks and buses, plus brands such as smart, Ford, Tremonia and Fuso alongside Mercedes‑Benz.
What this means for the market
The sale of Neu‑Ulm is one of the first concrete outcomes of Mercedes‑Benz’s wider strategy to transfer its own retail network into independent hands. For local customers the immediate effect is simple and practical: the branch remains open and staffed, service capacity is retained, and the regional aftersales network stays intact. For Mercedes‑Benz and for the trade, the deal represents the shift toward a leaner manufacturer role and a stronger independent dealer landscape. AUTOHAUS and industry reporting see Sterne Gruppe as one of the larger new Mercedes partners in Germany as a result of the Ulm acquisition.
Beyond the symbolic value, the figures behind the group matter: management has cited combined revenues in the order of the high hundreds of millions for 2024 and a workforce that runs into four digits across the network — numbers that give Sterne Gruppe scale to invest in training, EV charging infrastructure and workshop tooling, and to absorb the operational work of a former manufacturer branch. That scale is what persuaded Mercedes’ regional leadership to support the handover as a “long‑term, first‑class solution” for the location.
What customers and staff will find in Neu‑Ulm
On the ground in Neu‑Ulm the message has been continuity and opportunity. Management said the branch was taken over in full and that most employees remained in place after the transfer, a vital signal for unions, customers and corporate fleets that rely on stable contacts and warranty handling. The operational leadership of the Neu‑Ulm site is in the hands of the Sterne Gruppe team — the group’s public contact listings show Peter Schäfer, Lukas Ruf and Joachim Fellner in top management roles, and industry coverage confirms the three as the driving figures behind the new network.
Visitors to the Neu‑Ulm branch can expect the same factory‑spec service offerings they had before the sale — workshop bays, parts stocking and van support — now operated by a regional, family‑run group with local decision‑making. The Sterne Gruppe also stresses training and retention: reporting on the group highlights a significant apprenticeship cohort and an emphasis on professional development across sites. According to the group’s own contact page and industry reports, Hans‑Joachim Daigler works with the Sterne Gruppe; industry coverage describes him as having long experience in the Mercedes‑Benz world and broad sector expertise. We present that background here appreciatively and attributed to the reporting.
For buyers and fleet managers in Bavaria, the practical takeaway is straightforward: service appointments, parts access and van support that used to sit under the Mercedes‑owned Niederlassung banner are now provided by a local, owner‑managed group that combines longstanding family dealer knowledge with the scale to keep operations running. That means less hassle for customers who expect continuity of service and established points of contact.
If you’re a driver, a fleet manager or a dealer partner in the region, a visit to the Neu‑Ulm site — or a conversation with the Sterne Gruppe team — will show how the group intends to marry regional roots and dealer‑level resources. The Sterne Gruppe welcomes customers and business enquiries at its Neu‑Ulm branch and across its southern German locations; see the group’s site or the branch contact page for opening hours and service offers.
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Sources: AUTOHAUS, kfz‑betrieb, Sterne‑Gruppe website, Mercedes‑Benz Stern e‑portal, Augsburger Allgemeine
