Say the word "Subaru" What comes to your mind? All-wheel-drive rally cars? The end of Paul Hogan's career? Women in comfortable shoes who are kayaking enthusiasts? While all of those are true, is Subaru severing its roots with its die-hard owners to go for sales? 2013 marked record sales for Subaru in the US for all time.
But to first understand Subaru, you have to do a quick look into its American history. Established in 1968 by an entrepreneur by the name of Malcolm Bricklin. If that name sounds familiar, he's the guy who was responsible for bringing Yugo stateside, and the production of his own safety obsessed Bricklin SV1. Apparently Bricklin was only shooting 1/3 on his success. But Bricklin had the foresight in being able to ship over the half-ton microcar stateside and avoid federal standards due to its weight and its 0.36L engine. At this time, Nissan had a 20% stake in Subaru. Throughout much of the life of Subaru, Nissan components can be found in most Subaru vehicles; particularly automatic (non-CVT) transmissions.
Subaru's sales remained weak until the introduction of the BRAT, which was the first Subaru purposely built for the American market. The BRAT proved to be so popular, later US president Ronald Regan owned one.
In 1986, Fuji Heavy Industry (the owning company of Subaru) took full control of all North American operations from Bricklin. Three years later, Subaru opened its first, and only, plant in the US in Lafayette Indiana. The plant was a joint venture with Isuzu (who had ownership in FHI) where the Subaru Legacy and the Isuzu Rodeo were produced.
In 1999, Renault purchased Nissan, who in turn sold its stake in Subaru to General Motors. This lead to a large refresh in the Subaru lineup. Legacy in 2000, Impreza in 2000, Outback in 2000, and Traviq in 2001. GM's partnership also lead to a revival of the BRAT called the Baja in 2003. But GM's interaction with Subaru also went the other way, with the badge engineered Saab 9-2X which was a rebadged Impreza.
However, GM's ties with Subaru barely lasted a decade. GM sold 8.7% of Subaru ownership to Toyota, penning a deal which allowed GM to operate the Lafayette plant until 2007, where then Toyota would take control of the plant and global operations. The remaining 11.4% stake that GM owned was released into the public market.
This pretty much brings us today. Toyota still has their stake in Subaru, and still uses the Lafayette plant to produce the Subaru Legacy, Subaru Outback, and the Toyota Camry. But this is also where our story takes a hard left into a field of weirdness.
Since 2008, Subaru sales in the United States are up 127%. Granted, that little economic crisis may have had a major affect on the industry. But in that time, the changes in Subaru has been obvious and glaring to a rather obsessive and passionate group known as current owners.
Since Toyota has started having its hands in the Subaru lineup, we have seen a full update of the lineup, with the addition of two new vehicles: BRZ and XV Crosstrek. And this is where long term Subaru owners are getting the feeling of concern with the company of their much beloved cars.
Subaru cars are known for four things: flat-4 or -6 engines, full-time all wheel drive, their legendary longevity, and the ability to attract fans of flannel. However, one of those quite important things has changed. Unlike Subaru cars of the past, the full-time all wheel drive doesn't exist anymore. While the cars do still have all wheel drive, it's been changed to the front-drive/rear-reserve system found in more common vehicles such as the Ford Escape or Honda CR-V. This change and the change of the driving feel has put off some die-hard Subaru owners from trading in their 400,000 mile-strong Legacy.
The anticipation for the new WRX and WRX-STI for the 2015 model year had been massive. People had been expecting a wonderful new performance go-getter from the Far East. But there has been one major problem, and people are not exactly happy about it. 2015 also marks the end of the hatchback. One of Subaru's largest previous best sellers doesn't exist anymore. Could this be a continuation of the "American's don't like hatchbacks" myth? Possibly. But is it a sign Subaru has stopped listening to their customers? Yes.
One of the big Toyota/Subaru joint ventures has been the Subaru BRZ/Toyota 86/Scion FR-S. A unique car for the Subaru lineup as this doesn't come with all wheel drive. For the past two years, Subaru has been selling these cars along side Scion in the US, selling 56,327 since it's debut. But the one thing consumers has been clammoring about is a performance model. Or at the very least; an available turbocharged engine. The corporate response has been lukewarm with promises of an upgraded model which end up falling off the table for one reason or another.
Then there's the general feel of the new Subaru vehicles. To quote Hamlet, "Something is wrong in the state of Denmark." In this case, I guess I should say Japan. Something has been lost with newer Subaru vehicles. The joy and passion of driving seems to have been thrown out the window. In the past, it didn't matter if you had the WRX-STI or a base model Legacy, you could still have some fun with the car. You felt connected to the road in all conditions, and didn't get thrown around in your seat like SS Minnow in its third hour.
While Subaru's sales are up, their lack of keeping that warm and fuzzy feeling to its existing customers is waning to the feeling someone would get from one of the American Big 3 or Japanese Big 3. Opposite of the sales is the repeat customer rate, which for years scored Subaru a top four spot, which is now at 36% behind Kia, Ford, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Toyota, and Honda, according to a study by Experian. Worse yet, this puts them in company with Mercedes and BMW who aren't exactly known for their high quality anymore. An obvious sign, that Subaru is now at the point of selling cars to sell cars, instead of selling cars for their customers.
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