WREX.com – Rockford’s News LeaderWalser Subaru Awarded LEED Certification

CHERRY HILL, N.J., Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Subaru of America, Inc. announced that Walser Subaru has been awarded LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for the construction of its new Subaru dealership in Burnsville, Minnesota.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080325/SUBARULOGO )

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. LEED certification is granted after a building's construction has been completed.

"We are very proud that Walser Subaru has been given the distinction of being our first retailer to be named LEED certified," said Thomas J. Doll, executive vice president and COO, Subaru of America, Inc. "The dealership team, led by Paul Walser, has put in a great deal of time and effort to become the first Subaru retailer to achieve this recognition by the U.S. Green Building Council and we applaud their commitment to excellence in managing the customer experience."

Walser Subaru, which opened its doors in November of 2008, was designed to achieve LEED certification for site selection, water and energy efficiency, material use and a variety of other sustainable strategies. The Walser Subaru Burnsville dealership design focuses all efforts on a recycle-reduce-reuse format. The building's unique properties include:

Reduced Heat Island Effect

• Walser Subaru's roof is white to help reflect sunlight rather than absorb it.
  

Reused Materials

• The car wash is made of refurbished parts from a previous Walser dealership.
• All furniture inside the dealerships was reused from a previous site.
  

Low-Emitting Materials

• The materials in the building contain low volatile organic compounds including the paint, furniture, adhesives and carpet.
  

Water Efficiency

• The building uses 46-percent less water than a conventional building by installing low consumption urinals, proximity sensors on all faucets and an irrigation system with a weather station that will only allow watering during optimum weather conditions, i.e. low winds, low humidity and is equipped with low volume heads.
• The car wash is a water reclamation system. It holds the rinse water to be used as wash water.
  

Green Power

• Walser Subaru uses 100-percent wind power for all of its energy needs.
  

About the Walser Automotive Group

The Walser Automotive Group is a privately-held, family-owned dealer group that has been a part of the Twin Cities business community for over 50 years. Walser has 13 automotive franchises and operates nine dealership locations in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. All dealerships practice "The Walser Way," an easy, innovative and customer-driven way to purchase cars. The Walser Way was born from customer feedback and promises: Our Best Price First, Negotiation-Free Sales and Commission-Free Sales.

About Subaru of America, Inc.

Subaru of America, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. of Japan. Headquartered in Cherry Hill, N.J., the company markets and distributes Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive vehicles, parts and accessories through a network of approximately 600 dealers across the United States. Subaru boasts the most fuel efficient line-up of all-wheel drive products sold in the market today based on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fuel economy standards. All Subaru products are manufactured in zero-landfill production plants and Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc. is the only U.S. automobile production plant to be designated a backyard wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. For additional information visit www.subaru.com

    Contact:
    Heather Ward
    Subaru of America, Inc.
    856-488-5093
    hward@subaru.com

    Ryan Johnson
    Subaru of America, Inc.
    856-488-3439
    rjohnson@subaru.com

SOURCE Subaru of America, Inc.