Zeigler Auto buys 2 Subaru dealerships in Indiana

Expanding Midwest auto retailer Zeigler Auto Group bolstered its Indiana presence and Subaru store count with its latest acquisition.

Zeigler Auto on Monday bought Bob Rohrman Subaru in Lafayette, Ind., and Bob Rohrman Subaru of Fort Wayne from Rohrman Automotive Group. The dealerships were renamed Zeigler Subaru of Lafayette and Zeigler Subaru of Fort Wayne.

"Zeigler is proud to expand our family of dealerships across the Midwest with these Subaru store purchases in Lafayette and Fort Wayne, which were both top locations for us when considering a strategic expansion in Indiana," Aaron Zeigler, the group's president, said in a statement.

The Lafayette dealership, northwest of Indianapolis, is minutes away from Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc., the automaker's lone manufacturing plant in North America. Fort Wayne is northeast of Indianapolis.

Last month, Zeigler, of Kalamazoo, Mich., and one of the largest privately owned dealership groups in the U.S., bought three franchised dealerships in Michigan.

Zeigler now has four Subaru dealerships in its portfolio. Zeigler bought its first Subaru dealership in May 2021 with the purchase of a store in northwest Indiana. The group acquired another Subaru dealership as part of a four-store acquisition in Wisconsin later that year.

Rohrman Automotive, of Lafayette, ranks No. 58 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 13,938 new vehicles in 2022. The group was founded by the late Bob Rohrman, who died in September 2020.

Kevin Nill, managing director of Haig Partners, a buy-sell firm in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., represented Rohrman Automotive in the transaction.