Despite its huge footprint all over a tri-condition location, Zeigler Automotive Group even now found alone lacking a few of the huge name luxurious manufacturers in its portfolio.
“The a person franchise I got questioned about most was Mercedes,” reported Aaron Zeigler, president and CEO of Kalamazoo-primarily based Zeigler Automotive Team, which operates 75 franchises and 29 merchants through Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. “That was in all probability No. 1 on our want checklist. The 2nd 1 I obtained questioned about the most that we didn’t have was Land Rover.”
Zeigler Automotive Team President and CEO Aaron Zeigler. MIBIZ FILE Image
Zeigler and his group were being equipped to examine those people and other names off of their wishlist at the commencing of 2020 when the organization acquired 3 luxurious dealerships from Barrington, Unwell.-primarily based Motor Werks Car Group.
The deal was acknowledged as the winner in the 2021 MiBiz M&A Offer of the Year Awards in the retail category.
Through the offer, Zeigler Automotive Team obtained an Infiniti keep (its 2nd in the marketplace) and a Mercedes-Benz and Sprinter retail outlet in Hoffman Estates, Unwell., in addition to a Jaguar Land Rover keep in nearby Schaumburg, Sick.
Zeigler also deals Chrysler, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Fiat and Chevrolet in the identical industry.
The acquisition infused the regional dealership with 5,000 new units every yr with a projected value of $350 million in income annually. This boosts the company’s yearly profits figures to the neighborhood of $1.6 billion on 40,000 models offered.
For each an early 2020 report by Automotive Information, Zeigler Automotive Group was ranked No. 61 in dealerships nationwide for new vehicle gross sales models, which was 15,888 motor vehicles and shown gross sales of pretty much $1.3 billion.
The deal, which was prompted when Motor Werks approached Zeigler, was also the greatest one for Zeigler in phrases of rate. Zeigler noted that Hoffman Estates and Schaumburg are high-quantity marketplaces in the Midwest.
No stranger to scooping up offered dealerships, Zeigler explained that his staff is in a position to streamline the integration procedure.
“When we go to get a new dealership, or a number of dealerships, the acquisition group will exhibit up and get all the programs built-in so we mirror the programs we have in our other dealerships, which genuinely streamlines matters for us,” he stated. “We were being capable, in this unique scenario, to bring individuals stores into our fold and definitely not pass up a defeat.”
The offer was finished prior to the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in the U.S. Even by the pandemic, Illinois under no circumstances shut down completely, and Zeigler’s new dealerships had to crawl by way of a amount of limitations. After limitations were lifted, profits picked up in a big way.
In point, Zeigler has observed a gross sales bonanza company-huge all over most of the pandemic, which has continued into 2021, when the small business just recorded its very best January ever.
It also proved to be a good time to purchase the luxury manufacturers that Zeigler Automotive Team did.
“The luxury brand names ended up much more in demand from customers than any other models we experienced,” Zeigler claimed. “And I don’t know why that is. Even for the duration of the shutdown, they nonetheless done perfectly.”
Zeigler continues to continue to keep his ear to the ground for possibilities, and he expects sizeable M&A activity in this room as a whole.
“I believe there are heading to be a large amount of options out there,” Zeigler stated.
