Vista Auto Acquires Nissan of Casper, Most Employees Remain
Vista Auto announced on Friday that it has acquired ownership of Nissan of Casper.
That's according to a press release from from the company, who announced the purchase almost a year after after acquiring Foss Toyota, in December of 2021.
"Our hope is that we get to be able to be a really established brand," Michele Mitchler, the Director of Communications for Vista Auto, told K2 Radio News. "Everything we're about is community-based and locally owned and operated."
Vista Auto, according to the release, is a "family-owned and community-committed company," with the goal of finding ways to satisfy their customers every single time, by employing energized sales associates who are "transparent, positive, and empowered to say yes."
Nissan said 'Yes' to the acquisition, when the former owner of the dealership announced that he was looking to sell.
Mitchler stated that, as soon as the heard that the former owner wanted to sell, they got in touch and bought the dealership.
"It was actually a really pretty smooth transition to take over the dealership," she stated. "We've kept pretty much the entire team in place; we just put in a new manager."
This is the second time in less than a year that Vista Auto acquired a Casper-based dealership. They purchased Foss Toyota last year as well, which furthers their goals of growing the market.
"We have other dealerships in Denver and other cities, where we always have more than one dealership," Mitchler said. "Our goal is to try and get at least two dealerships, and potentially a few more."
Mitchler said that Vista Auto also has Nissan dealerships in New England and Tennessee, meaning they know and understand the brand extremely well.
Nissan of Casper, which is located at 111 SE Wyoming Blvd, has been a family owned and operated dealership since 2014.
The release stated that, over the last 8 years, the dealership has set a foundation of "great teamwork, flexibility, and commitment to their customers."
"Moving forward under new management and ownership, we will continue to be a fabric of the community, honoring relationships and sponsorships the store has made while also looking for new opportunities to build upon," the release said.
Community is a major priority for both companies.
"We do a ton for the community," Michler said. "We have a foundation that we've just started and we do a ton of giving back to the community - to local schools and those types of things. Our goal is to keep the profits in the community and do as much as we can to give people more options for sales and services with multiple manufacturers, and then used cars as well."
Alex Gillett, the CEO of Summit Automotive Partners stated that he and his team are extremely excited to take on this project.
“We are thrilled to be expanding our dealership footprint in Natrona County and to be adding an additional Nissan franchise to our integrated dealership network,” Gillett said. “We have tremendous respect for the Nissan brand and the business that Nissan of Casper has built and are proud to have them join the Summit Auto Family."
Ben Harrison, the General Manager of the Group, agrees.
“Casper has been extremely welcoming to the Vista brand, we are proud to be part of this great community and look forward to further serving their automotive needs," he said.
Per the release, "Summit Automotive Partners is a privately held, family-owned automotive management group based in Centennial, CO. Summit currently operates an integrated network of 23 dealerships representing 14 manufacturers and 5 brands across 6 states. Since its inception in 2006 Summit has been committed to building lasting relationships with customers, employees and manufacturers while never forgetting the importance of giving back to the communities where we live and work."
To find out more information, visit their website.