Subaru BRZ Fastest Car Off Dealer Lots in May

[Hachiroku]

FT86CLUB Homepage Featured Story


Via NY Times:

Buoyed by positive press and tight supplies, the rear-wheel-drive Subaru BRZ spent the least time in American showrooms than any car in May, according to Edmunds.

The service tracked the days to turn, commonly known as churn rate, for the coupe in May, its first month of sales. Demand for the 271 units sold by dealers translated to a churn rate of four days, Edmunds said. The Scion FR-S, which was co-developed with the BRZ, experienced a five-day churn.

With so much competition for so few BRZs — initial interest from customers in Japan was four times higher than the automaker’s projections — how could Subaru so severely underestimate demand for the coupe?

One conclusion seems to be a lack of certainty by Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru’s parent, that a brand built around all-wheel-drive capability could readily stretch to accommodate a lightweight, rear-drive sports car.

“The BRZ being rear-wheel drive, we made a conservative production request,” Michael McHale, a spokesman for Subaru of America, said in a telephone interview. “We pegged our allotment roughly to sales of the WRX,” he said, referencing the brand’s rally-oriented all-wheel-drive sports car.

That conservative approach has led to gripes from every market where the BRZ would be sold. “There are only so many that can be built in the year, and if you want more, you have to take from another market,” Mr. McHale added. “And nobody wants to give up their allocation.”

Contrary to most Japanese automakers, who have been shipping production overseas to preserve their profit margins in the face of a strong yen, Fuji Heavy Industries intends to increase domestic production in the fiscal year ending in March 2013. Subaru has not announced its 2013 production targets for the BRZ, but American dealerships are expected to receive 6,000 units by the end of 2012.

- http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2012...t-off-the-lot/

[Draco-REX]

And think of all the people that said the BRZ would never sell because it wan't turbo or AWD. LOL!

[M-17]

Originally Posted by Draco-REX

And think of all the people that said the BRZ would never sell because it wan't turbo or AWD. LOL!

+1

They can all suck some lemons.

[Tainen]

hahaha! That terrible, horrible nasioc thread comes to mind

[blu_]

Yeah that whole Subaru WRX fanbois --> BRZ hatered thing is basically just people either incapable of seeing past what they personally get a kick out of, or insecurity IMO.

[MannyO]

Originally Posted by Draco-REX

And think of all the people that said the BRZ would never sell because it wan't turbo or AWD. LOL!

^^^^

[5hairpins]

anybody else find it odd that the Scion took 5 days in May but wasn't on sale officially until June?

[DarrenDriven]

Yeah... although I know that there were a few dozen legit sales in May on top of the First 86 program.

[Draco-REX]

Originally Posted by 5hairpins

anybody else find it odd that the Scion took 5 days in May but wasn't on sale officially until June?

Some dealerships got their cars early, and there were the First86 as well.

[Giccin]

All the turbo and AWD talk reminds me of reading "Night Imports" photo comments whenever the site admin puts one up.

The sales figures and demand shows the up.

Still annoying to read though.

[86design]

went to my first car show at a toyota dealership this past saturday and I couldn't believe what i was hearing from the sales guys at that dealership..

Sales guy "excuse me! did you change your front bumper?"

Me "no why?"

Sales guy "Oh cause we sell the FRS and i thought that the FRS was the same as the BRZ, so i thought that was an aftermarket bumper"

Me " ohhh no no the BRZ is alittle different from the FRS"

Sales guy "I'm sorry but your BRZ looks like it WANTS TO BE A FRS!"

Me "hmmmm OKAY THANKS!"

Also heard from there sales manager that walked by my BRZ say "no wonder you dont see that many of them.....they look ugly!"


After hearing that....I was just thinking in my head! yeah there might not be a lot of there but there's a reason! the BRZ beats the FRS with looks, interior and MOTORTRED Magazine haha

[MattIsBuffalo]

Originally Posted by 86design

After hearing that....I was just thinking in my head! yeah there might not be a lot of there but there's a reason! the BRZ beats the FRS with looks, interior and MOTORTRED Magazine haha

I personally like the FR-S better than the BRZ, but by no means would I say the BRZ is an ugly car... They look too similar that the small differences are hardly noticeable. Heck, if it weren't for the grill insert on the BRZ I would barely be able to tell a difference. Sounds to me like the salesmen were just being jackasses.

[tripjammer]

Originally Posted by MattIsBuffalo

I personally like the FR-S better than the BRZ, but by no means would I say the BRZ is an ugly car... They look too similar that the small differences are hardly noticeable. Heck, if it weren't for the grill insert on the BRZ I would barely be able to tell a difference. Sounds to me like the salesmen were just being jackasses.

Yeah the FR-S still have the better looking front bumper for the ugly headlights kill it vs the BRZ.

[plumsauce]

Originally Posted by 86design

Sales guy "I'm sorry but your BRZ looks like it WANTS TO BE A FRS!"

You should have said "I'm sorry but your FR-S looks like it wants to be a Toyota. At least my BRZ made it to North America without being rebranded as something nobody wants!"

[Grimlock]

Originally Posted by Draco-REX

And think of all the people that said the BRZ would never sell because it wan't turbo or AWD. LOL!

I think this is really a non-story. Nearly all of the cars that were sold in May were pre-orders. When the cars came in, the potential owners were called and then they came in to pick up their car.

No selling was needed, and no extra time on the lot was needed than for the potential owner to get to the dealership.

If there were no pre-orders this would be a much bigger deal.

[Draco-REX]

Originally Posted by Grimlock

I think this is really a non-story. Nearly all of the cars that were sold in May were pre-orders. When the cars came in, the potential owners were called and then they came in to pick up their car.

No selling was needed, and no extra time on the lot was needed than for the potential owner to get to the dealership.

If there were no pre-orders this would be a much bigger deal.

True, but most Subaru dealerships have sold orders for all of their allotments. The one I got my BRZ from is getting 9. When I picked it up they had 8 orders. A week later they had sold the 9th and had 3 on wait-list for any cancellations.

[DubGUy]

Originally Posted by 86design

went to my first car show at a toyota dealership this past saturday and I couldn't believe what i was hearing from the sales guys at that dealership..

Sales guy "excuse me! did you change your front bumper?"

Me "no why?"

Sales guy "Oh cause we sell the FRS and i thought that the FRS was the same as the BRZ, so i thought that was an aftermarket bumper"

Me " ohhh no no the BRZ is alittle different from the FRS"

Sales guy "I'm sorry but your BRZ looks like it WANTS TO BE A FRS!"

Me "hmmmm OKAY THANKS!"

Also heard from there sales manager that walked by my BRZ say "no wonder you dont see that many of them.....they look ugly!"


After hearing that....I was just thinking in my head! yeah there might not be a lot of there but there's a reason! the BRZ beats the FRS with looks, interior and MOTORTRED Magazine haha

Way to keep your cool.

[DubGUy]

Originally Posted by plumsauce

You should have said "I'm sorry but your FR-S looks like it wants to be a Toyota. At least my BRZ made it to North America without being rebranded as something nobody wants!"

Nice comeback!

[alluringreality]

Originally Posted by Grimlock

I think this is really a non-story.

While I do think it's possible these cars may stay in the top 10 for a few months, I think it's silly to draw any general conclusions at this point on how well the cars will sell, especially considering the Cadillac anomaly from January.

http://blog.truecar.com/2012/01/23/j...cle-inventory/

[mkxr]

Originally Posted by 86design

went to my first car show at a toyota dealership this past saturday and I couldn't believe what i was hearing from the sales guys at that dealership..

Sales guy "excuse me! did you change your front bumper?"

Me "no why?"

Sales guy "Oh cause we sell the FRS and i thought that the FRS was the same as the BRZ, so i thought that was an aftermarket bumper"

Me " ohhh no no the BRZ is alittle different from the FRS"

Sales guy "I'm sorry but your BRZ looks like it WANTS TO BE A FRS!"

Me "hmmmm OKAY THANKS!"

Also heard from there sales manager that walked by my BRZ say "no wonder you dont see that many of them.....they look ugly!"


After hearing that....I was just thinking in my head! yeah there might not be a lot of there but there's a reason! the BRZ beats the FRS with looks, interior and MOTORTRED Magazine haha

Someone from Scion should read this. People don't want to be treated poorly when they go to a dealership to look at or buy a car. Smug attitude from sales people like this is a turn-off, and I have walked away from a sale before because of something like this. I had a similar experience at the Chicago Auto Show, with the less-than-knowledgeable Scion staff just thinking and acting like they are all-that, and how I should feel blessed that they are even talking to me. When you walk in to a dealership, and someone tells you that the car you came in is ugly, that's not a good sales tactic.

[micmic]

Originally Posted by Tainen

hahaha! That terrible, horrible nasioc thread comes to mind

Ok, I must have been under a rock, but I missed that post on NABISCO...

Could you post a link to it?

[Tainen]

if you have a few months to read, here it is:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=1858777

But I can just sum up the whole thing for you.

"IT'S NOT AWD? WHAT A TERRIBLE CAR! IT WILL NEVER SELL AND IT'S A PIECE OF JUNK! AND NO TURBO AHH MEHHH GAWWWD IT WILL DO 0-60 IN DAYS NOT SECONDS LAWZ, ANYONE THAT WANTS A CAR THAT IS NOT TURBO AWD IS DUMB AND DOES NOT KNOW THE AMAZINGNESS OF SUBARU"

and like two or three people trying to defend the BRZ. hehe. And if you tried to logically point out that it was a true sports car (according to the real definition of a sports car) you'd get trolled from here to the moon. even though the WRX is just a 4 door economy car with a turbo on it. lol. I drove my 03 wrx for 8 years, and they still said I had no idea what I was talking about.