How does Subaru choose connected services? | with Amy Sgrignoli of Subaru of America

**John Heinlein** (0:00)
Today in The Garage, we're recording it live at Auto Tech 2026 in Novi, Michigan.
As we're looking around the show, there's incredible cars, and just off the studio here, we have exhibitions of Ward's 10 Best Interiors, and we attended that award session just earlier this week. And that is celebrating the user experience. As a driver sits in a vehicle, what are the experience, what are the finishes like, how are things arranged in thoughtful ways? And it's so interesting to see the diversity of how vehicles present themselves to a driver. In a similar way, I think different brands are always looking to explore how they connect with their driver, and is there a brand profile of their drivers? And what you find is, in some cases, there are some really clear brand profiles. One of those brand profiles that's very notable is Subaru. They have a long history of delivering a kind of an adventurous-like spirit. People love their Subarus, drive them for hundreds of thousands of miles, and take them on camping and adventures of all shapes and sizes. And it has informed the way they've thought about their experiences and their connection to their drivers. To talk about that, we brought on an expert from Subaru, Amy Sgrignoli. She's Vice President of Connected Vehicles for Subaru of America. And in our conversation, we talk a lot about how do they connect with their drivers in unique ways. We also do a little bit on leadership. So a little bonus section of the podcast today on leadership and helping your teams be successful. I really enjoyed today's chat and I hope you will too.
Let's go.
Welcome to The Garage. I'm John Heinlein, Chief Marketing Officer with Sonatus. We're recording live at Auto Tech 2026 in Novi, Michigan. And my guest today is Amy Sgrignoli. Amy, welcome to the podcast.

**Amy Sgrignoli** (2:06)
Thank you. Thank you for having me.

**John Heinlein** (2:08)
We're so excited to chat with you. Why don't you begin by telling us a little bit about you and your background.

**Amy Sgrignoli** (2:12)
Sure. As you said, I'm Amy. So I work for Subaru, which we'll talk about later. But me as a person, I have two kids, one who just finished their freshman year of college, one who's about to finish her freshman year of high school.
Born and raised in Colorado. Boulder. Yes, went to school in Boulder. And then spent a little short stint in the Atlanta area, and then have been out on the East Coast ever since.

**John Heinlein** (2:40)
You live in Philly?

**Amy Sgrignoli** (2:42)
Yes, a suburb of Philly, so right outside of Philadelphia.
People know the area media. Okay.

**John Heinlein** (2:46)
I'm originally from Pittsburgh.

**Amy Sgrignoli** (2:47)
Oh, my father was born in Pittsburgh.

**John Heinlein** (2:50)
Let's say it's a Pennsylvania. Those of you who know about Pennsylvania know that Western and Eastern Pennsylvania are sort of like San Francisco and LA.

**Amy Sgrignoli** (2:58)
They're completely different. There's nothing the same.

**John Heinlein** (3:02)
And they're both excellent.

**Amy Sgrignoli** (3:02)
They're just different. They're just very different, yes.

**John Heinlein** (3:05)
So you've got to tell us a fun fact about you.

**Amy Sgrignoli** (3:07)
Okay. So fun fact, I actually just launched a podcast.

**John Heinlein** (3:12)
I know and I listen to it and it's amazing and congratulations. One podcaster to another. It's an exciting media. This is our fourth year. We just did our 50th episode. You just did your first?

**Amy Sgrignoli** (3:23)
Yes. So we've dropped one.

**John Heinlein** (3:25)
So tell us about your theme and what do you expect to cover?

**Amy Sgrignoli** (3:28)
Sure. So this has sort of been my passion project. As we'll get into in a second, I have a real job. Not that podcasting is not, but I do have a full-time job. But for me, this is just a bit of a passion project because I believe so much in the power of leadership. And I started thinking about leadership in the framework of it. And if you go and look at what's out there in the space, first of all, it's so much in this narrow corporate lane. Somehow leadership gets tied to high executive positions or senior levels. And so one thing I really wanted to challenge was that there is leadership across all industries, across all levels.
And it's really a huge part of who you are as a person, not necessarily the industry or the level that you're at. So that was one thing that I really wanted to do. And then the second thing is, I believe in the power of stories. And I think that when people can listen to someone else's story, sometimes they can feel seen, they can feel heard, they can feel inspired, all of these different things. And I just think that hearing other people's stories is one of the best ways to actually learn.