RE: RIP Subaru Impreza
Discussion
I'm surprised by all this RIP talk. The UK import company have chosen not to continue bringing it here in favour of presumably more profitable models.
As was the case with earlier EVO's and hotter versions of Imprezas, it'll just be a matter of using a grey importer to get one.
I think it says more about our buying habits nowadays than a particular failing on Subarus part, who seem to be able to flog the Impreza elsewhere with no great problem.
As was the case with earlier EVO's and hotter versions of Imprezas, it'll just be a matter of using a grey importer to get one.
I think it says more about our buying habits nowadays than a particular failing on Subarus part, who seem to be able to flog the Impreza elsewhere with no great problem.
micawrx said:
What are subarus sales like in other countries?
In UAE a new impreza STi is £29k and fuel is £20 odd quid a tank but few takers.
The uk was treasure island for them....
...wonder what the future for the brand is ... Globally...
Still very strong in Australia. In UAE a new impreza STi is £29k and fuel is £20 odd quid a tank but few takers.
The uk was treasure island for them....
...wonder what the future for the brand is ... Globally...
The sti is a bit more than half the price of the m135i which helps.
Standard models are also very popular.
Very sad indeed, but Subaru are the most ridiculous car company around, and they've brought every problem on themselves.
Releasing a hatchback Impreza was a great move on paper. I think plenty of folks were migrating to the new hot-hatch market, and it made sense for Subaru to follow. I guess they just never had the money to compete. The car was hideous in anything less than STI spec as well - WHY SUBARU WHY??!!
Probably should have dropped the impreza name from the start (too much loud exhaust image for most folk probably) and marketed it properly.
But ultimately, with s
te engines for the lower models, £450 road tax for the sti and wrx's, and cheaper, as-fast alternatives that looked nicer and felt nicer, it was pretty much doomed.
I hope to have one of the last sti cosworths before I'm too old to be seen in one though.
Releasing a hatchback Impreza was a great move on paper. I think plenty of folks were migrating to the new hot-hatch market, and it made sense for Subaru to follow. I guess they just never had the money to compete. The car was hideous in anything less than STI spec as well - WHY SUBARU WHY??!!
Probably should have dropped the impreza name from the start (too much loud exhaust image for most folk probably) and marketed it properly.
But ultimately, with s
te engines for the lower models, £450 road tax for the sti and wrx's, and cheaper, as-fast alternatives that looked nicer and felt nicer, it was pretty much doomed. I hope to have one of the last sti cosworths before I'm too old to be seen in one though.
PunterCam said:
I hope to have one of the last sti cosworths before I'm too old to be seen in one though.
I'm 32 and I think I'd feel silly driving around in one with the big wing (optional I know). My colleagues, friends and family all drive...ahem...shall we say... classier vehicles which are just as sporty/quick most of the time. Not everyone wants to be pushing it past 8/10ths in bad weather after all, which is where the Impreza's advantage lies.
Pr1964 said:
BMW on the other hand can't keep buyers from thier door
BMW are helped by 'bhp per gallon' figures, If Subaru could have matched this, there would be more of the current BMW drivers in SubarusPr1964 said:
A Subaru impreza looked like a generic chavy Japanese car to the vast majority of the uk population most of them wouldn't be seen dead in one.
Do you shop in Waitrose as well?I would say less than 30% have ZERO clue about cars and don't get the big spoiler image.
70% would note the relevance of the image and recognise a driving enthusiast
69.9% of the 70% can recognise a chav and realise that he is not a enthusiast Subaru owner.
What is your current drive?
People talking about future grey imports are forgetting about the strength of the Yen. 7-10 years ago, there were thousands of japanese imports coming across, even before they had private buyers here, but that's because they were cheap. There will be very few people enthusiastic enough to pay the prices now.
There wont be any spares in the uk for future models either, which there always has been until now.
There wont be any spares in the uk for future models either, which there always has been until now.
I think Subaru are very good with building cars with robust quality, long lives and some innovative things. What they lack is someone saying, "well hang on , starting that car kills 100 polar bears immedieatly" or "the mpg is terrible in that"
Get that person on board and we'll see a healthy Subaru.
Get that person on board and we'll see a healthy Subaru.
Pr1964 said:
Honestly I do feel a sad they have stopped production.
But they brought it on themselves.
If the Japanese would only realise they can't design the bodies and farmed that part of the design process out to a company that can probably in "Italy" though the uk also has a few good designers. Then maybe we'd still have a Subaru worth driving.
Image Unfortunately For them is v high on the buyers list of important considerations and the market don't lie they couldn't sell em .... The End.....
BMW on the other hand ....
Given they've just pulled the model here that is selling very successfully in other parts of the world.But they brought it on themselves.
If the Japanese would only realise they can't design the bodies and farmed that part of the design process out to a company that can probably in "Italy" though the uk also has a few good designers. Then maybe we'd still have a Subaru worth driving.
Image Unfortunately For them is v high on the buyers list of important considerations and the market don't lie they couldn't sell em .... The End.....
BMW on the other hand ....
Is it not a poor reflection on us as a nation whereby image is v high on a buyers list of important considerations, to the point where we prize cars that in other countries are viewed to be dull but worthy taxis?
ScoobieWRX said:
It will all change again one day and we'll have something equally nutty turbo bd as the Impreza once was. Guaranteed it will happen.
Subaru won't stay out of rally forever. It will all click back in eventually and we'll all look back on the 90's and 00's as the heyday of Subaru and be falling in love with some new iteratons of the Impreza, only better and more 21st century.
Every manufacturer does it eventually with mixed results admittedly but i reckon Subaru will come back with a bite!!
I hope your right but I don't see how it will happen.d as the Impreza once was. Guaranteed it will happen. Subaru won't stay out of rally forever. It will all click back in eventually and we'll all look back on the 90's and 00's as the heyday of Subaru and be falling in love with some new iteratons of the Impreza, only better and more 21st century.
Every manufacturer does it eventually with mixed results admittedly but i reckon Subaru will come back with a bite!!
The way I see it and has already been pointed out that most cars of this type (e.g Impreza's, Evo's, Cosworth's, GT-4's etc) were born out of Group A rally and Touring car racing regulations, which required the race car to be based on a road car and there had to be a certain number of road cars sold to Joe Public. Since the rules have been charged (especially in rally's case) the manufacturers don't need to build turbo nutter special editions, which I think was a real shame. I know Mitsubishi and Subaru carried on but to me the newer cars never had the same impact as the older ones.
But I don't think until there is a big shake up of Motorsport and there is a need to build cars of this type the manufacturers are not going to spend money building them, you just need to look at the latest WRC cars compaired to the showroom versions to see my point.
corozin said:
Unfortunately the performance Impreza's didn't sell enough anywhere other than Japan and the UK to make them viable.
But it also didn't help that Subaru turned the Impreza from a brutal performance saloon into a characterless bread van.
Shame all the same.
I thought Imprezas did well in the USA? It's hard to make money on car sales there though as American made cars dictate a lower price for imported cars. Most manufacturers barely make any money selling cars there.But it also didn't help that Subaru turned the Impreza from a brutal performance saloon into a characterless bread van.
Shame all the same.
The latest boxer engines from Subaru are more efficient and cleaner than Phase II engines but they are slightly heavier too. They fact they are still going to sell the Legacy and Forester using the same engine just tells me it's actually less about emissions and more about just what is and isn't selling. They are meeting emissions targets with the new engines so any bullcrap they come out with blaming emissions regs is simply that, bullcrap!!
Corporately they won't admit the latest gen was a failure so they blame emissions instead. They just need to come up with something that gets the blood going just like classic and newage cars used to, and i feel the BRZ is a step in the right direction. When tuners start tuning them in anger regularly and it's not just the odd one like it is at the moment due to warranties etc..., it will get Subaru thinking.
People still want turbo nutty cars with 4WD which i think is still the way to go, specially with the way the weather is going over the next few years, but they need to have a rethink about what will sell because from the start the majority of people/fans/buyers said what a feckin awful car the newgen was to look at and drive but Subaru didn't listen to the customer base and have been punished as a result.
Next time though Subaru please do something with the interior and make it a really nice place to sit. Try and be original with the bodywork too, do something really different and cool. P2 style perhaps??!! In fact just make the P2, by christ Prodrive properly missed a trick there!!
Maybe then buyers won't mind so much paying decent money for an all round decent car.
Corporately they won't admit the latest gen was a failure so they blame emissions instead. They just need to come up with something that gets the blood going just like classic and newage cars used to, and i feel the BRZ is a step in the right direction. When tuners start tuning them in anger regularly and it's not just the odd one like it is at the moment due to warranties etc..., it will get Subaru thinking.
People still want turbo nutty cars with 4WD which i think is still the way to go, specially with the way the weather is going over the next few years, but they need to have a rethink about what will sell because from the start the majority of people/fans/buyers said what a feckin awful car the newgen was to look at and drive but Subaru didn't listen to the customer base and have been punished as a result.
Next time though Subaru please do something with the interior and make it a really nice place to sit. Try and be original with the bodywork too, do something really different and cool. P2 style perhaps??!! In fact just make the P2, by christ Prodrive properly missed a trick there!!
Maybe then buyers won't mind so much paying decent money for an all round decent car.
I tell you what I find really sad is how once again we end up diverting away from the original topic and it becomes a negative comparison of wrx vs 135i! Both great cars in their own ways and lets leave it at that! It saddens me that on ph we have guys calling BMW girls cars and impreza chav car! Grow up we are all meant to be car enthusiasts not the guys down the pub who know nothing!
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