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Opel: Oldest driving school in Germany teaches and drives electric
In 1910, it had only been 11 years since Opel entered automobile manufacturing, laying the foundation for one of the world's most traditional car manufacturers. A pioneering achievement like this was also accomplished by Fritz Mann: 113 years ago, he founded a driving school in Suhl, Southern Thuringia. The first driving school car back then was an Opel Double Phaeton 12/14 HP. Today, the driving school Gebr. Dobberkau e.K. is managed by Olaf Dobberkau, the great-grandson of the company's founder. This makes it the oldest still existing driving school in Germany. Over the generations, the operator family remained loyal to the brand with the lightning bolt. About 13,000 beginner drivers learned how to drive here over the decades – on Opel models from the 12/14 HP through Olympia, Kadett, Astra, Frontera, and Zafira to the current Opel Mokka. With the latter, the driving school is well-prepared for the future. According to the manufacturer, the next generation is already learning what locally emission-free driving means on the Opel Mokka Electric and how much fun it can be.
Forward-thinking: Driving school founded with the introduction of driver's license requirement
"My great-grandfather apparently had a keen sense that driver training could be a sustainable business model," says Olaf Dobberkau. Fritz Mann already operated a carriage business – with Opel models – and a workshop when he founded the driving school in 1910, immediately after a driving test first became mandatory in Germany. And anyone who wanted to pass the test 113 years ago had to be able to do one thing above all: tinker.
"The roads were bad, pneumatic tires and spoke wheels were sensitive. The question of how to get a car up and running again was given far more importance than right-of-way rules. The test-takers only had to complete a few accident-free laps in the yard," explains Dobberkau. And they did this from the very beginning in an Opel 12/14 HP.
Mobilization Boom in the 1920s
The first students who learned to drive on the stately vehicle were locksmiths and mechanics. The test was intended to prepare the aspiring chauffeurs for their profession. Just as traffic volume, roads, and the requirements for drivers changed over the decades, so did the audience in the driving school. By the end of the 1920s, more and more people could afford a car when Fritz Mann handed over his life's work to his daughter Irma and her husband Friedrich Dobberkau. With the next generation behind the wheel — an Opel Olympia — the driving school, gas station, workshop, and car and motorcycle dealership landed in Schleusingen. After World War II, Friedrich's sons Karlheinz, Arno, and Günter took over. Driving students sat behind the wheel of an Opel Olympia or an Opel Kadett, while those aspiring for a truck driver's license learned to maneuver with an Opel Blitz.
Instead of Astra, there's now a Mokka
The family business endured even during GDR times. Already having entered the family business as a driving instructor and taxi driver in the 1980s, Olaf Dobberkau ventured further after the reunification. When the first new driving school cars were delivered in 1992, they again bore the Blitz emblem. Driving students in the new federal states learned to drive in South Thuringia with the new compact-class bestseller Opel Astra or the off-road vehicle Frontera. By the end of the decade, the seven-seater Opel Zafira followed; the mid-range model Omega was available to customers as a rental car.
Future-Proof: Mokka Electric Important for Contemporary Training
Even today, the driving school Gebr. Dobberkau e.K. relies on Opel, specifically: the Opel Mokka Electric. Because although Olaf Dobberkau has gasoline in his blood — he spent 35 years in rally sports and claimed class victories in the German Rally Championship with the Astra in 1999 and 2000; with his wife Alexandra as co-pilot, he even became champion of the German Rally Series in 2010 — he knows how important the topic of electric cars is for the automotive future and therefore for his driving students.
"Electromobility currently has a significant influence on the content of the training," says the 58-year-old. "Students learn, for example, how energy can be recuperated during braking to increase the vehicle's range. Charging is also practiced."
And lastly, it must be demonstrated during the driving test that one can operate assistance systems such as the adaptive cruise control. "For instance, already about half of our driving students want to take the driving test in an electric car – with an increasing trend. Electric cars are also booming in driving education." And the Mokka Electric fits well: compact, clear, nimble, and with modern technologies, all essential learning content for modern driver's license training can be represented — and at the same time show how much fun responsible, locally emission-free driving can be, the provider advertises.
Translated automatically from German.
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Elektromobilität , Newsletter Elektromobilität , IAA Mobility , SUVs und Geländewagen , Hybrid , Antriebsarten, Kraftstoffe und Emissionen , Oberklasse- und Sportwagen , Carsharing , Autonomes Fahren (Straßenverkehr) , Ladeinfrastruktur , Verkehrspolitik , Formel E , Brennstoffzellen , Fahrzeug-Vernetzung und -Kommunikation , Fahrzeuge & Fuhrpark , Automotive-Messen & Veranstaltungen , Pkw, Kompakt- und Mittelklasse , Minis und Kleinwagen , E-Auto-Datenbank, E-Mobilität-/Automotive-Newsletter, E-Auto-Tests
