Subaru Wins 2008

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

Finishing 2008 with positive sales growth was basically unheard of this year in the US car market. Titans like Toyota, hot brands like Audi, nobody is safe from the sales downturn that is crunching the biz. Except Subaru. The all-AWD boys managed a narrow 0.3 percent sales bump for 2008, as strong Forester sales (up 62.8 percent in December, 36.4 percent on the year) helped limit December bloodletting to a 7.7 percent downturn. So even though Subaru literally sold only 491 more cars in 2008 than it did in 2007, you can’t help but call it a win. Unsurprisingly, Tribeca and Outback are the big losers, dropping 52.1 and 30.3 percent in December and 34.6 and 22.8 percent on the year. And Subaru’s short-term positioning continues to look good. Though the summer gas shock had consumers scurrying for Fits and Priora, leveling prices and a harsh winter make Subaru’s products look like a smart step for the downsizing SUV-as-luxury crowd. Subaru’s out of the WRC championship, and the Toyobaru coupe has been canceled (it should have been the Tribeca!), but in the US market Subaru looks as good as can be expected.

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Strippo Strippo on Jan 06, 2009

    Our '05 Forester is still fault free after four years. And it's so easy to maintain for the do-it-yourselfer. Oil changes are a snap. I suspect we'll be keeping it for a very long time.

  • Michael Ayoub Michael Ayoub on Jan 06, 2009

    I drove a 2008 STI at the dealership the other day and it was absolutely amazing. Even more amazing was the dealership: very friendly, absolutely zero pressure (I'm not buying a car for at least two months), and we got to meet everyone from the cute woman who accompanied us on the test drive to the managers. And we got T-shirts.

  • Willamettejd Willamettejd on Jan 07, 2009

    (6) I will second the dealership experience. Clean. Nice. Relatively Low Pressure. Salespeople who realize the cars can stand on their own without BS. Salespeople who don't remind you of low-level mobsters.

  • Ricky Spanish Ricky Spanish on Jan 07, 2009

    please post the source indicating that the Toyobaru has been "cancelled" as reported in this blog. On their site, there's no mention of the vehicle, and the only information I could find on the web was a postponement until 2012 - so I'm wondering where this information came from (so I can cram it down the Toyota fanboys' throats).

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