Tuesday 4th February 2020

Subaru BRZ prices rise - dramatically

Failure to meet CO2 targets means range-wide fines - time to try secondhand!

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The Subaru BRZ really doesn't get any luck, does it? Not only did its Toyota twin get the majority of the attention before sale, but the '86 has also outsold the Scooby for the past seven years. According to HowManyLeft, there are just 835 BRZs registered in the UK, against more than 6,000 GT86s. Really.

Now the situation is getting even worse for the BRZ, at least until the replacement car turns up, with a £4k price rise being reported by Autocar. That's thanks to Subaru being hit with fines for not complying with the reduced fleet CO2 average imposed by the EU - 2021's 95g/km average being phased in this year. For every gram per kilometre that a manufacturer exceeds the average, it is fined €95. Given Subaru doesn't yet have an electric car in its range, or a credits deal in place like FCA and Tesla, it isn't hard to see how it will have failed to meet the target.

As such, the price of a BRZ has gone up 15 per cent, its £31,995 list price up £4,160. The rest of the range has seen prices climb by up to £3,000, too. The price of an '86 is unchanged. Subaru says there have been no price increases in two years, and that the rises are due to a combination of factors rather than the CO2 issue specifically.

Don't expect to see many more BRZs registered this year, then - £32k is quite a lot of money. A shame, really, because the Subaru is a great little car. Let's all be encouraged, then, by the cars on offer second-hand: this 2017 example is £20k with 10,000 miles, resplendent in WR Blue, and delivery mileage cars are still on offer at the £25k they cost back in 2012. No time like the present, after all.

[GTEYE]

You can only assume they will drip the last few in stock quietly onto the market, and quietly take it off sale.

And nobody will even notice.

[GTEYE]

kieranblenk said:

I wouldn't be surprised if Subaru pulls out of the EU market within the next year or two..

Judging by the number of recent ones you see on the road, most people would probably assume they already had.

The heady days of Colin McRae and Richard Burns are a long time in the past now...the brand seems to have given up on the UK