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I don't think there's one bizarrely-styled vehicle in the entire Subaru lineup for 2010. How long has it been since the last time we could honestly say that??!!
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
About 90 percent of the brand's dealers are profitable. And those prosperous dealers gave Subaru the second-highest brand rating in the last two dealer attitude surveys, conducted in the past year by NADA. Only Lexus did better
Any dealer making a profit in this economy has gotta be excited for the recovery.
Either that turned out to not be true or the gains were insufficient to offset the losses due to increased weight and mechanical inefficiencies. In any case, their "AWD can save fuel" argument quickly disappeared.
If you build an AWD box with high ground clearance and good storage capacity, you have to pay for that in energy.
Which is why, to me, diesels in AWD vehicles is attractive (but apparently not for automakers marketing in the USA).
6 speed manual, even.
http://blogs.insideline.com/straightline/2008/09/edmunds-drives-forester-diesel.- html
Bob
Gee, who cares if it's a little slow? 38 mpg and a 4,4000 lb towing capacity? That's pretty impressive.
Point is, I think the instantaneous torque alone would be a step up from the base engine.
I still wish for an X/T with a stick even more though
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I want to go Japanese again, because the only domestic choices with AWD are crossovers and have fairly lousy mileage anyway.
But all the Japanese hybrids drive like a wet noodle, and the only one with seriously good fuel economy is the Prius. FWD, cheap interior.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
We have never really tested just how much penetration diesel could make if there were multiple automakers with several diesel offerings here.
But either way, that's fine - Subaru should bring on a hybrid with really good mileage then. And they need it YESTERDAY.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
It's going to take quite an ad campaign to bust through 30 years of misconception. Also, I don't wish to beat a dead horse, but GM certainly helped to sour Americans on the diesel passenger car.
Our Rover store made money on the new side literally hand over fist but lost all that and more in used car and wholesale losses. Service of course made up for that so that the store itself was profitable but the sales side usually wasn't.
When was the last time you saw a Hummer with chrome wheels? That wasn't vandalized, I mean.
The downturn actually helped Subaru. They've had 2 consecutive years of growth.
Jim
That's how the Pontiac Aztek made it to production. Seriously. The tent seems cool. Sure, I'll buy it. Then noone did. Well, that plus the concept was actually cool, and not nearly as ugly as the final product.
I'd say yes to a survey like that, as in yes I'd be interested to test drive one.
Would I buy it?
Dunno. Regular gas is $2.649. Diesel is an absurd $3.149. This is one of the few stations in zip 20854 with diesel. 20% more nearly negates the 20-40% efficiency gains.
So I would have to go out of my way to find affordable diesel. Ain't happening in real life.
I think there's more to the diesel factor than comparing the cost of diesel to gas and calculating the fuel cost/mile. In my case, I could replace 2 gas vehicles with 1 diesel - provided the diesel could realistically tow my boat, as I now keep a pickup mostly for local boat towing duty - so there would be a savings going from 2 to 1. It would be hard to part with my Outback, but if the EPA allows for the further adulteration of our gas with ethanol, and there's a diesel Subaru available, that would be very tempting - although the boat may also be sacrificed if I can't find acceptable fuel for it either.
Subaru is making the correct business decision for Subaru by not bringing the diesel until it can be sold in every state.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I hate having to go get gas every 5 days. The Miata has a small tank, so if I drive around a lot, it seems like I'm always running on empty. A 500+ mile range would be nice.
I *HATE* when a hybrid has a small gas tank. Totally defeats the purpose. :sick:
Nearl 17 gallons in a Forester, at 40mpg, would give you 680 miles or so. Do NOT make the tank smaller, like VW did for the Passat TDI, and like Toyota does for some of its hybrids.
Towing is another benefit, but I wonder if the 6 speed manual would be well suited?
Diesel just crept up to $3.199. :mad:
Or someone like my wife could be on the focus group. She has mild asthma and diesel fumes get her. Gasoline isn't so bad, but she doesn't want anything to do with diesel. Now a hybrid - that she'd like.
There's a long discussion about diesel in the States over in Diesels in the News.
Boat people have trouble with everything. :P Even if they gave me unlimited free aviation fuel I could barely keep up with the cost of maintenance and the mechanical issues with a boat. I once thought of changing my boat's name to "Feed Me".
In this age of treacherous waters in the automotive seas (nice but corny segue), an automaker has to be very careful about any costly innovation or marketing change. Look at poor Saab, now a dead duck and once the same quirky, beloved niche vehicle as the Subie.
Visiting Host
If you find keeping a car running expensive...imagine a marine version of the same.
The diesel Subaru sells now in Europe does not meet CARB standards, so they'd have to add urea injection (and a grand to the price) to sell it here.
Tough sell, at least for now.
Never sell a product here where the owner has to add a critical fluid periodically, and if there is a critical warning light or chime, make it as loud as a railroad crossing alarm. :P
http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100105/RETAIL01/100109984/1- 400#
The only company doing better year over year was one with 1/5 the sales: Jaguar Land Rover.
And how about that 33% single-month gain at Soob, eh? ;-)
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
You'd think they would have ended up like Saab----an obscure also-ran. But somehow they have maintained the ability to LOOK DISTINCTIVE in the marketplace----and a very cluttered marketplace at that.
I sort of like the Baja, and you have to admit it certainly looks distinctive too.
Subies are good weather boxes to own without having to drive a big honking SUV or pickup around. And the WRX and all the rally events gave Subaru tons of good press. Dunno, something about them engenders lots of loyalty with owners. High perceived bang for buck?
SoA executives fought parent Fuji hard to stop that push. That's when things turned around.
The 2008 Impreza, then 2009 Forester and 2010 Legacy/Outback were the results of that new value-based strategy. The price of the base Forester dropped by some $1200, and they were able to do away with rebates.
The 08 WRX stumbled out of the blocks, but in 09 they added power and some content and since then they can do no wrong.
I'd say the perception of reliability (which Subie advertising exploits) is also a driver in sales.
I say "perception" because the 2.5L engines did hand-grenade for a while (all betta now).
I do worry about my '97 Outback a bit.
While Subarus have historically been very durable and pretty reliable (with the major hiccup of the 2.5L head gasket problems and the wheel bearings on some Legacys, all around a decade ago), it has certainly helped their rep for reliability and value that they are Japanese. They get some help up from Toyota and Honda, as many people lump them all together.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Thanks to torque_r posting in the GM thread, we have the numbers for calendar 2009:
VW:---------------- 223,128 down 4.3
Subaru:------------ 216,652 up 15%
Go Scooby! :-)
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/05/by-the-numbers-2009-up-and-down-year-ends-dow- n-for-most-editi/
Bob
A Camry or Accord may seem cheaper than a Legacy, but compare a Crosstour or Venza. I compared loaded six-cylidners with AWD and the Subie has a $2-3000 price advantage.
No wonder they can't make enough Outbacks. That plus the Crosstour is painful to look at.
How will Subaru build on its new record sales? Look out Honda and other big-volume players.
Doll points to the Honda Accord's dominating 8- or 9-to-1 sales rate over the Legacy as a ratio ripe for picking. He said as industry sales volumes begin to return in coming years, Subaru will have the opportunity to leverage its strong brand attributes to conquest buyers from bigger brands that may have less focus.
http://www.autoobserver.com/2010/01/subaru-plots-follow-up-of-2009-success.html#- more
Now that Legacy actually has better fuel economy than Accord despite the AWD, they might be able to get something going there. But corporate will need to put out a memo to the dealer body: STOCK SOME LEGACY SEDANS!
My dealer never has ANY in stock. He is the WRX/Forester/Outback dealer. The lesser Imprezas, the Legacys, the Tribeca, might as well not exist at all. This is true for all but the very biggest dealers here in the Bay Area.
Interestingly, the article mentions that they expect to sell a hybrid in the 2012 MY, and that it will NOT be the HSD system from Toyota, as that won't work with a boxer engine.
And of course, they won't quote their new sales targets, thank goodness; when have they ever hit them after announcing them in the past?? Better not to jinx things... :-)
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Let's see a CVT in the Forester, and maybe a 6 speed manual as well (in the turbo, too, by the way).
Next? DI for the engines.
Yes, that's going to be overdue if it doesn't arrive very soon.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)