– Give us a little background on you, your history, and what you’ve been doing with the LA Car Guy stores :
“I’ve been with Sullivan Automotive Group or LAcarGUY group of dealers since 1997. I graduated from high school and worked my way though University of Southern California with cars. I had the opportunity to work at different capacities at most of our dealers that we have in our group. I was asked a few years ago to attend the National Automobile Dealers Association, essentially a college for car dealers, in order to better my career and promote my career.”
More recently had the opportunity to be invited to be the General Manager for the Subaru Pacific store. It’s something I’m really excited about because the Subaru brand is kind of an extension of who I am; they’re a very active brand with their cyclists, with their outdoorsy, spirited and environmentally friendly people. I’ve participated in numerous triathlons and I’ve been doing them for the past six or seven years, anywhere from sprint distances to the coveted Iron Man races that so many people talk about.
Subaru’s a brand that’s also philanthropic, and very socially responsible. They do an extreme amount of dog rescues. One of their favorite charities during their “Share the Love” event, where every time a customer purchases a vehicle they have the opportunity to donate to five different charities, Special Olympics, Meals on Wheels, Make a Wish Foundation, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), and American Forests. The ASPCA is very close to me and my wife, we do a lot of dog rescues and have a few dogs of our own so that’s something that’s very special to us.
As I mentioned before the Subaru brand is a very spirited, outdoorsy, adventurous brand… I consider that to be in my genre, too. I enjoy hiking and backpacking, and community involvement. I’m looking forward to growing the Subaru brand, not just in sales, but in the community. They’re heavily involved with Heal the Bay with the Sullivan Automotive Group. Our president, Mike Sullivan, is actually on the board for Heal the Bay, and being so close to the beach I think that’s something all of us in the South Bay know as a very important part of our lives. So I’m doing what I can to help bring the Subaru brand into Hermosa Beach and the South Bay.
As I mentioned. Subaru’s a very environmentally friendly company; their factory in Indiana is actually around an 850-acre wildlife preserve. It’s a zero-landfill factory, meaning all of the waste that comes out of the facility can be recycled. I’ve taken notice to that, and everything that we use to clean the cars (such as detailing products) and other chemicals, we do our best to make sure they don’t go back into the environment and become a hazard. I’ve gone through all the dealers and made sure they’re were signs next to the drains. Being so close to the ocean, everything we drain goes right back into the ocean.
All of our products are environmentally friendly and biodegradable. everything from the hand soaps, to the car-wash, to the stuff we use to clean the cars and so forth. We provide a warm atmosphere for pets, we have dog treats and water bowls, and we plan on hosting pet adoption events in the future and we plan on participating in the community with things such as surfing and triathlon events.”
– It sounds like a store that fits right in with LAcarGUY values. But is Hermosa Beach going to be the permanent location?
“This is actually our temporary location as we introduce ourselves to the South Bay, but we’ve already set our sights bigger and we’ll go from a two car showroom and a four-car service bay to a seven car showroom and a fourteen-car service bay in Torrence in approximately one year. We believe that will better accommodate our guests that are looking for sales and service in the Subaru world.
A great number of guests are already so grateful that we’re here, because there was a void in the past 15 years with regards to people being able to service and/or purchase a Subaru here in the South Bay. In the past they would have to travel south quite a ways or all the way north. We’ve had several people saying what a convenience it is for us to introduce this franchise into the South Bay. Definitely know that we’re going to continue to grow, and leverage the double-digit growth that Subaru’s had over the past 4 years.”
-What are the store hours going to be?
“Our service department will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, with the intention of opening on Saturday depending on demand. Our sales department will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, and 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday.”
And for a little more with James:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTjEp8oNk6c]
