Rumors suggest this current gen of brz is the last owing to toyotas new collaboration with bmw. With that in mind are subaru destined for the scrap heap?
They have certainly been on the slope in europe? Im not sure how popular they are elsewhere.
I think ive seen maybe 1 brz and umpteen gt86s. Understandable as toyota is a more well known brand

 

Toyota had more allocations of the model compared to Subaru so that's the reason you see more gt86's.

 

Iirc it was 10 :1

 

Yup that's Subaru gone, they make no other cars wish to god there was a new impretza out there or something....... Oh wait....

As above the BRZ was only limited compared to toyota

 

Subaru are still very strong in America and Australia - can't see the doing less sales in eco-friendly europe bothering them too much. Lets face it how many cars have they sold in the uk of late - i bet its not much into the 000's!

 

They also make the Forester, Outback and Legacy, plus there's the new WRX Sti out now which looks half decent, so it looks as though Subaru won't be disappearing any time in the near future.

The big question is: how the hell did Subaru manage to squander the good will of so many enthusiasts, who over the years bought and loved the many versions of the Impreza, even the Bug (eventually)? That required a master class in dreadful marketing, and they still haven't learned, dumping the Impreza name for WRX Sti. Bloody brilliant.

 

I agree about the lost good will thing but then the classics being so cheap they could be run by idiots didn't help. But times have changed a car doing sub 30 to a gallon have gone for most people.

As for the name change - it didn't hurt Nissan and the GTR when they dumper the very long established 'skyline' brand.

 

Very true with the Skyline name and the GTR, but the GTR is a fantastic piece of kit and if they'd called it the Nissan Pillock it still would have sold like hotcakes. Unfortunately the Subaru hatches were unloved from the outset and nothing special either, and the dodgy 2.5 motors earned a very bad press. Subaru were on the way down from that moment.

 

I know subaru aren't that popular as in sales, but the new cars are built to a good quality. If they stayed as they are now I wouldn't be worried

I dont think the changes to the wrc have helped

I didnt know there was an agreed ratio of gt86/brz

 

If they only stuck a turbo in it from factory it would be sensational I know this can be retrofitted but from factory would be immense

 

They are big in Israel too.
So subaru are big in certain markets.
But not Europe, due to all the reasons we know. One of the biggest automotive marketing/engineering mess ups of all time. Alot of money to be made that wasn´t.

 

Agreed, we Brits overestimate our significance to FHI. I see a lot of Subarus in Switzerland but not in other European countries I visit - which fits with their popularity in countries such as the USA, Australia and NZ where 4WD is extremely useful on gravel and/or snowy roads.

 

Cosworth are now doing tuning packages for these,with a 340+ version on the way.

 

http://left-lane.com/european-car-sa...ubaru-impreza/ close your eyes when you get near the bottom.

http://left-lane.com/european-car-sales-data/subaru/ looks a bit better with the overall picture.

Interesting, when you look at the 2009/2010 sales there similar to 2005, ie widetrack.

 

I thought it was 99:1

And I cant see Subaru brand going down; to many other companies (including Toyota @ approx 16%) have interest in them.

But world economics are a funny thing and the slightest little thing can send whole megacorps down the shute in a matter of hours, so we shall see. But I doubt it

 

Even in it's hay day they weren't actually selling very many cars 20,000 is nothing when compared to the likes of Ford,VW, Toyota, and Fiat would be good if it was UK only but it's almost all of Europe.

I can see why they did the hatch to compete with the likes of the Focus but they really made a mess of the design. Subarus aren't exactly beautiful cars anyway so it must have taken some real effort to come up with a pig like the hatch, also they obviously learned nothing from their experience with the ugly Bug eye, have they never heard of market research and maybe testing the water by showing a few versions of the latest concept to their target market ie car forums like this one and naisoc.

 

Maybe they should ditch the non impreza models and just be a sports car manufacturer, with respect to current owners of foresters, legacys etc etc

 

The current plight of Subaru in the Uk is down to one thing: greed.

Back when they were only allowed to import one per dealer per month, (1998), they were over-priced and under-specced, compared to the ones the japs got.

Yes, you could import a JDM one, but there weren't the specialist tuning companies there are now and Subarau and International Motors went out of their way to make owning a JDM car difficult....refusal to service, order or stock parts etc etc.

Then we had/have the saga of the chocolate pistons, and the criminal way Subaru and IM tried to duck warranty claims.

Is there any wonder people like me wouldn't buy another, ever?

 

I think if they'd done that, then certainly the UK market would have totally died

 

Absolutely.
But have you read the stuff on that 'new car' thread?
Specifically from a dealer, and claiming to know the full facts about the extent of the problem?
Apparently the wasn't really a big issue

 

Yeah, but I liked that period of time.
I purchased mid/late in 1999 from new (through luck as they were so limited)
I sold that car maybe 8 months later for the MY00 model, and I lost approx £500 in the process.
Try doing that now!

 

They sold similar numbers in 2009/2010 across Europe as they did in 2005. In summary the hatch with the 2.5 sold like the widetrack.

Things went down hill before the 2.5 (came back up a bit with the hawk) but wasn't made worse by the hatch. I think the hatch was a attempt to save the brand but with no improvement they decided to pull the plug.

With regards to people like you not going back it would appear that the majority of the new sti's that are selling like hot cakes are bought by previous Subaru owners.

 

Selling like hot cakes?

Not round here, the only one I've seen so far was in a dealers.

 

Not relative to Ford but people are driving hundreds of miles to get one.

 

New age killed the impreza

 

Climate change and gobal financial crisis killed subaru

 

Aye..........because GREED also closed loads of the dealerships.

 

Helped along nicely by yet another piece of badly crafted legislation on VED by Lying Labour.

 

On that subject, VED should be means tested. Yes my 2.5 litre turbo kicks out more co2 than my fiat 500, but I use my subaru no where near as much. In fact I probably damage the environment more in my fiat during an average week than im my superpoo. Thats what I call it, my superpoo

 

Need to take it back to bare bones and and create another rally car for the street that will get enthusiasts excited. New models are hideous bulky and too tame. Plenty of better options for a decent 4wd run around.