Subaru of America Pres Jeff Walters Celebrates at Zeigler Ribbon Cutting|EP129
Subaru of America President and COO Jeff Walters speaks to Team Zeigler during a Ribbon Cutting event at Zeigler Subaru of Schererville Open House.
How are you driving vision, today?
-Sam D'Arc
Jeff Walters:
We're just really grateful, you know, that is such a great fit and partnership, with the Zeigler Organization that, the way we wanna do business is the way they wanna do business.
Sam D'Arc:
Welcome everyone to the Driving Vision podcast brought to you by the Zeigler Auto Group. And here with me, auto group director
Sam D'Arc:
of talent development, Mike Van Ryn. Welcome, Mike.
Aaron Zeigler:
Hey. Thanks, Sam.
Sam D'Arc:
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. Like it if you do, and leave a comment.
Sam D'Arc:
This week, I get to take you back into the world and life of the Zigler Auto Group. Over the last couple years, Aaron Zeigler has purchased 4 Subaru franchises in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Lafayette, Indiana, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Merrillville, Indiana. Recently, he built a beautiful new facility and moved the Merrillville location up the road to Schererville, Indiana. This past week, we celebrated the grand opening of that new facility. It was a blast to celebrate, and we did it in a uniquely Subaru and Ziegler way.
Sam D'Arc:
The Subaru brand uniquely aligns with the Ziegler Auto Group's way of retailing cars, focusing on experience and customer more than the sale. So you'll see that this open house features an ultimate experience for our guests and for our team members alike. I'm proud to bring you portions of our livestream today, including a message from Subaru America president Jeff Walters, Zeigler president Aaron Zeigler, and general manager of the Subaru store, Kyle Faiman.
Sam D'Arc:
Alright, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Zeigler Subaru of Cherville. We appreciate having everyone here. We'd actually like to take care of a couple items of business. So super exciting to be here in this brand new facility.
Sam D'Arc:
We're thrilled to have you here as guests, both team members of the Ziegler Auto Group here in the building, partners, vendors. Our good friends from Subaru of America are also here as well. And then as everyone gathers around here, because it's a narrow spot right here, we'd also like to acknowledge the audience that we have remotely. So we have several 100 here with us today, but we also have our 27 100 associates and team members plus across 4 states, 41 stores across the Midwest here as well, and we celebrate this moment together. So if I could just ask one more time your attention, and if you could make your way over to the stage, this is the crowning event, the crowning moment of us gathering here tonight.
Sam D'Arc:
And before I announce our speaker, our next, speaker, how about if we give a huge round of applause for our live entertainment, the band here today? Huge round of applause for them. And I think we'll actually hear more about this, but if you look outside on the other side of the rally cars, you're gonna see a hot air balloon with a familiar logo rise up. You see race cars outside. There are a lot of treats that are in store that, mister Ziegler, the facility, and Subaru has in store for you tonight.
Sam D'Arc:
So I'd like to acknowledge the presence of some invited guests from Subaru of America, including, the president of Subaru America, Jeff Walters, president and COO of Subaru of America, and Natasha Walker, who's VP of the central region, and then many, many, many other, Subaru invited guests. We're also grateful for those, dignitaries and local officials that are here from this area here in Schererville for being here as well, and then, obviously, team Ziegler as well. And without further ado, I'd like to turn the time over to VP and general manager of Subaru Schererville, Kyle Faiman. Round of applause for Kyle.
Kyle Faiman:
Okay. Here we go. So for those of you that don't know me, my name is Kyle Faiman. I'm the executive manager here at Ziegler Subaru Sherryville. 1st and foremost, what I'd like to do is thank, all of you for being here tonight and the support that you bring with you.
Kyle Faiman:
The other thing I wanna do is is thank all of our loyal customers. To
Jeff Walters:
the stand.
Kyle Faiman:
Our dedicated employees, and our friends and family for the support that they give to make tonight even possible. So please give yourselves a round of applause. The next thing I'd like to do is recognize the people that are on the stage with me today. These are what we call our LPCs or our Love Promise Champions. So first, we have Naomi, we have Jaylen, we have Anna, and we have David, and they are the true ambassadors that that drive our world class culture day in and day out at our dealers at our retailer.
Kyle Faiman:
There you go. The second thing I wanna do is, recognize them because this is a pretty epic event. Might be the best grand opening in the history of the auto group. Right? And there was these individuals put so much time and hard work into doing this along with many others, but please give them a round of applause for making this happen.
Kyle Faiman:
So the next thing I'd like to do is recognize the partnership between Ziegler and Subaru, and the first thing I want to recognize is how our values are so aligned Subaru has something called what's their 5 heart pillars and that stands for honesty, empathy, appreciation, respect, and trust. As a lot of you know that Ziegler, these complement our 5 core values very well, and those are passion, reputation, integrity, drive, and execution. So the passion and the second thing I wanna recognize is the passion we share and the pride we take in our community involvement. What I'd like to share with you is one of the ways that we do that, throughout the year. That's through the Subaru Share the Love event.
Kyle Faiman:
So, basically, what that is is every November December, every new Subaru sold, there's a specific dollar amount tied to that that gets donated back to our either hometown charity or the national charities that we're a part of. Can you believe that since 2008, Subaru and its retailers have donated over $287,000,000 to national and hometown charities.
Kyle Faiman:
That's a
Kyle Faiman:
pretty big number. So with that, I thought, what better than to share the love with all of you tonight as we present our check to our hometown charity, which is Chasing Dreams? Denise? Come on up. So let's give a round of applause for Denise who's the founder and president of Chasing Dreams.
Kyle Faiman:
Okay. So who is Chasing Dreams, and what do they do? So chasing dreams, this is our, we've been partners with them for 4 years. This is our 4th year, and We look forward to many more. They provide programs at no cost to to children and young adults with special needs.
Kyle Faiman:
And their mission, their mission's to help develop life skills for their students to live a more independent and self sufficient lifestyle. So without further ado, there it is, $24,000. Okay. So in closing, I just wanna thank Denise and her team for everything that you do for our community and the effort that you put in to give for us to be able to give back to something that that is such a big deal in our community, so I appreciate that. The second second thing I'd like to do is is thank everybody in the Zigler Polo, black Zigler Polo.
Kyle Faiman:
Those are the ones that are on the front lines every day and make this all possible as well for for us to do what we do on a daily basis, so thank you as well. Lastly, in light of this grand opening, I'd like to thank mister Aaron Zigler, and I think I speak for so many more for such an amazing facility to help us to continue to deliver the ultimate automotive experience. So let's give it up for Aaron Ziegler. And then in closing, my Subaru team will like this. Subaru likes to say, we are not just a car dealer.
Kyle Faiman:
We're a Subaru retailer, so thank you.
Sam D'Arc:
Kyle Feynman, thank you very much. So it's not every day that when you open a brand new facility, you have an open house like we have that you're able to have the experience that we're having
Jeff Walters:
right now.
Sam D'Arc:
It's not every day that the manufacturer has the president, the chief hype operating officer of that company come and speak to us and, be present at the open house, and today is that day. And so without further ado, I'd like to introduce mister Jeff Walters, Walters, president and CEO of Subaru America.
Jeff Walters:
Good afternoon, everybody. Hey. This is great. I'm Jeff Walters. I get to work at Subaru of America.
Jeff Walters:
I've been, part of the Subaru of America team for almost 32 years.
Aaron Zeigler:
Yeah.
Jeff Walters:
Yeah. Thank you. Yes. So I've been in this role for just over a year. And let let me tell you one thing that I've learned over a year, being in this job.
Jeff Walters:
There are a lot of things I have to do, and there are a few things I get to do. And this is truly one of the things that I get to do. It's really a privilege to be out here. They don't let me out too often. And, represent our Subaru of America team.
Jeff Walters:
So I wanna thank Aaron and, the Zigler organization for just a wonderful facility. I've been around I would guesstimate in my 32 year career, you know, we have 640 stores, across the country, Subaru stores, and I would say that I've probably been in about 400 of them, give or take. And this is an amazing facility as good as anything we have in the entire country. So thank you, Aaron. Thank you, Zigler Organization, for the investment in the partnership.
Jeff Walters:
So, I think you might know where I'm gonna go next. You know what? You know, it might be kind of obvious because you'd say, you know, a building is awesome. It's a really good start of a partnership and, you know, how we wanna do business, how we wanna come to the market, but it's just a start. And, what we look for at Subaru is, retailers and organizations that we can truly partner with, you know, that want to do business the way that Subaru would really like to do business, that we wanna be uniquely Subaru.
Jeff Walters:
And we know the Zigler Organization, you know, the tenants of how they wanna do business really fits very well with Subaru that they wanna provide class leading experiences. They wanna make a difference in their communities. They want their owners to have the best experience possible when they come to that store. And at Subaru of America, we call that our Subaru love promise, and, we're just really grateful. You know, that is such a great fit in partnership, with the Zigler Organization that, the way we wanna do business is the way they wanna do business.
Jeff Walters:
And, as we go through the year, you know how we try to do that as Subaru of America you know we had different initiatives all year long you know in February, we love to help. In April last month, we love the Earth. In June, we love to care. In August, as the kids are going back to school, we love to learn. In October, we love pets, especially the dogs.
Jeff Walters:
We love the dogs. And then, as Kyle did such a great job describing, at the end of the year, we share the love. And, you know, just a little bit more on sharing the love, you know, think a little bit about that. You know, at year end, you you always see the commercials. You know, car companies and brands, they go on sale.
Jeff Walters:
You know, they talk to you about the deal. You know? And what's a what's a sales event at Subaru of America? We're talking about giving 100 of dollars for every car sold to a charity might be a national charity might be the hometown charity That's a sales event at Subaru of America and that's how we wanna be a little bit different. And we know, again, that's how the Ziegler Organization does it.
Jeff Walters:
You know, if it's blood drives here at this store, if it's the michiana humane society saulk elementary in, Maryville the Salvation Army in michigan city or Chasing Dreams. That's a great partnership. So, thanks again. This was really a privilege. You know, you, you know, you like doing business with people you like, and, we like very much everyone at the Ziegler Organization.
Jeff Walters:
So thank you for the partnership. Nice doing business with you, and I look forward to making this wonderful facility of success. And, I think we have, a small gift, a token of our appreciation that we wanna give Aaron and Kyle. Come on up.
Aaron Zeigler:
Let's give it up for Jeff Walters.
Kyle Faiman:
On behalf of, Subaru of America, this is a, really nice gift of all of our logos going back to 1958, And, this is for the not only an investment in the facility, but the investment you make in the community. Thank you for being such
Sam D'Arc:
a great partner, Aaron, and, let's thanks for that.
Aaron Zeigler:
Thank you, guys. Thank you.
Sam D'Arc:
Isn't that awesome? By the way, round of applause if you brought a dog tonight because I'll tell you, it's unusual to have dogs at open houses for, retailer dealerships. Right? Car retailers. We have that here tonight.
Sam D'Arc:
That is proof truly that Subaru is a different brand. We appreciate, and we appreciate that. So without further ado, so that we can do this ribbon cutting, I wanna bring to the stage the president and CEO of the Ziegler Auto Group, all 41 locations, 4 states, 27 100 dealerships across those 4 states, mister Aaron Ziegler.
Aaron Zeigler:
Alright. Thank you, Sam. Thank you so much for being here tonight to, celebrate our grand opening. So today's a significant milestone for our organization is we embark upon a journey to bring a world class customer experience to our Subaru customers. And as you walk through the showroom, you see a stunning display of craftsmanship, reliability, and innovation that really defines the essence of the Subaru brand.
Aaron Zeigler:
You know, our journey with Subaru started about 3 years ago in the summer of 2 1021 when we purchased the dealership down the road in Maryville. We realized really quickly that we were outgrowing the facility. We had doubled the volume, that they were doing. So we set out to design a cutting edge dealership to give our customers that world class customer experience. The dealership that we're in today is almost 3 times the size of the previous dealership.
Aaron Zeigler:
Every aspect of this dealership was designed with our customer in mind. It's a pet friendly facility. You're gonna love that, Jeff. We've got a, we've got a dog park out here with a agility course. We've also got, treats and toys for your pets anytime you come in.
Aaron Zeigler:
We're making, dog collars over here, tonight, as well. The, the dealership's got an indoor delivery area. So when you purchase a, a vehicle, you'd be able to take delivery of it inside. We've got a state of the art car wash. So every customer that comes in for service will get a, free car wash on, their vehicle.
Aaron Zeigler:
We've got an indoor service right up area. So when you bring your vehicle in for service, you don't have to be outside in the elements. We've got a large customer lounge with Wi Fi, snacks, and drinks. We've got 750 parking spots, so we've got lots of room here. So the dealership is 37,000 square feet, sits on 15 acres of, property.
Aaron Zeigler:
It was designed by the Linden Group in conjunction with Subaru, and it was built by, Beneclaus in construction who's built a lot of dealerships for us. Overall, we had 250 workers, con con collaborated to, build the facility. So as Sam said earlier, this is our 41st, location, including 4 Subaru, retail outlets, 3 of which are in Indiana. We've got a lot of fun activities here tonight. So we've got the Subaru rally car team, next door.
Aaron Zeigler:
They set a bunch of, world records with, with their team and track records. Next to that, we've got, our hot air balloon team as well as a replica of our, NASCAR. So even though it's only Monday, it's been a busy week for our organization. We started out, 6 AM yesterday morning in, downtown Kalamazoo where we hosted over 4,000 runners in the, Kalamazoo Zingler Kalamazoo Marathon. And then, yesterday afternoon, our NASCAR team was in action in, Kansas where they had another great finish.
Aaron Zeigler:
Carson Hocevart, our driver, is leading the rookie of the year standings right now. And then, tonight, here we are at the grand opening of the new Subaru dealership in Schererville. So something that I really love about Subaru, and it's something that sets them apart from every other manufacturer, is their commitment to philanthropy and their love promise. And their core belief as an organization to giving back to local communities, fits in so well with what we're doing. And you saw that firsthand tonight with the, Chuck presentation.
Aaron Zeigler:
So we're really looking forward to being part of the Schererville community going forward, making a profound positive impact with the area residents and being able to give back to the local community in a big way moving forward. So thank you so much for being here tonight. Thank you for welcoming us to the community, and there's only one thing really left to do to really get this party started, and that's to, cut the ribbon and, make our grand opening official.
Sam D'Arc:
So we will bring the band back up. Enjoy. There is a lot to do here. There's a hot air balloon that's going up outside. There's a NASCAR out in the parking lot.
Sam D'Arc:
There's, tours of the facility here and plenty of food and drinks to enjoy this evening. So thank you again all for being here, and thank you to Subaru and this, beautiful facility. Thank you, everybody.
Sam D'Arc:
A big thanks to team Ziegler Subaru Schererville for putting on such a great event. Until next week, how are you driving vision today?
Listen On
New to Driving Vision Podcast?
Here are some great episodes to start with.
