Automotive News - October 21, 2013 - Supplement - S32

32 ❙ OCTOBER 21, 2013
S U B A R U O F W I C H I TA , W I C H I TA , K A N .

Suzuki's top-selling U.S. dealer finds
a successful new path with Subaru
Printed in Automotive News April 29, 2013

David Barkholz
dbarkholz@crain.com

"We had to move
swiftly. Those
employees were
counting on us to
lead. ... We think
we can make
some waves."

losing up shop was not an option
for Scott Pitman, America's bestselling Suzuki dealer.
After Suzuki announced in November that it would stop U.S. vehicle sales
this year, he couldn't fathom leaving the
business and laying off 86 employees at his
Suzuki of Wichita in Wichita, Kan.
So Pitman, 45, bought half the equity in a
crosstown Subaru store owned by a business
partner and moved the operation to the site
of his Suzuki dealership.
His plan: Adopt many of the practices for
Subaru that made Suzuki of Wichita the
brand's top-selling U.S. store, including aggressive regional Internet marketing and
noncommissioned sales staff.
"We had to move swiftly," said Pitman,
who bought into the Subaru store in March.
"Those employees were counting on us to
lead."
Pitman said he is now selling Subarus as he
prepares for $700,000 in store improvements
to bring the dealership to brand standards.
He is optimistic about sales because
Subaru's vehicles, with all-wheel drive and
high safety ratings, have broader appeal than
the low-priced Suzukis. Subaru also puts
more resources into national TV and Internet advertising than Suzuki did, he said.
"We think we can make some waves," he
said, adding that the store has had no layoffs.
He expects that within a year Subaru of Wichita will sell 100 new vehicles a month and
replace the new-car volume he is losing with
Suzuki. Suzuki of Wichita sold 1,325 new vehicles in 2012 and 1,809 used ones.
By comparison, the Subaru store at the
previous location was selling fewer than 50
new vehicles per month, he said.
Aaron Wirtz, social media director at the
store, said switching the Web site from Suzuki to Subaru has been surprisingly smooth.
Subaru has been sending videos and inventory feeds of Subaru products to drop immediately onto the Web site and to use for other
marketing applications, such as YouTube,
Wirtz said. Under Suzuki, the store shot most
of its own photos, Wirtz said.
Hundreds of customer reviews for Suzuki

Scott Pitman on making the
transition to selling Subarus
after Suzuki decided to stop
U.S. vehicle sales

of Wichita on DealerRater.com and Google
have been carried over and listed under Subaru of Wichita, Wirtz said. Those reviews
help sway shoppers to choose the store and
would have taken months to replace if they
hadn't been transferred, he said.
Pitman said he will continue to price vehicles near their final selling price, while allowing "limited negotiation."
Subaru of Wichita, like Suzuki of Wichita
before it, pays salaries to salespeople and not
commissions. That encourages salespeople
to find the best fit for buyers rather than
steer them toward the most profitable vehicles, he said.
Subaru buyers generally also do lots of Internet research on their potential purchases,
making the role of the salesperson more one
of helping the shopper navigate the process
rather than trying to push a vehicle on them,
Pitman said.
Pitman intends to keep his Suzuki clients.
Suzuki customers can still get repairs and

maintenance at the new store, he said.
Pitman and business partner Brandon
Steven, who own a used-vehicle store called
Super Car Guys, turned the former Subaru
store into a second Super Car Guys location.
Pitman said about half of his Suzuki vehicle buyers last year came to the dealership
through credit leads. Those are generated on
the dealership Web site or third-party shopping sites when a person fills out credit information to determine how expensive a car he
or she can afford.
Pitman said he could put many of those
buyers into a new low-priced Suzuki rather
than a used car. He said his operation will
continue to cater to buyers with poor credit
at the Subaru and used-car stores.
Pitman said the Subaru store is keeping intact a five-person Internet department that
handled credit leads. About one-third of
those leads were generated on his dealership
Web site and the remainder were bought
from third-party sites, he said. c

http://www.DealerRater.com

Automotive News - October 21, 2013 - Supplement

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