Subaru's Stepchild
 

Do any other BRZ owners completely sometimes feel like Subaru's unwanted stepchild?

I get emails from Subaru every couple of weeks with marketing wank and coupons and in almost a year I haven't seen a single mention of the BRZ. No photos, no mentions, no car specific accessories, nothing. Even in the photos of the whole line of Subaru vehicles there is always one car that is missing. It's almost as if Subaru was embarrassed of the BRZ.

It's not really a huge deal, I just think it's odd that Subaru so rarely seems to mention our car. I feel like Harry Potter sleeping under the stairs or Cinderella being hidden away.

because the the wrx is their favorite

oh because this car doesn't have AWD so it's like not one of their own

If the BRZ is a unwanted stepchild ...... then the FR-S is an orphan ........:cry:


humfrz

Edited... LOL

Yes! My FR-S is made by Subaru, but doesn't have the trim they gave the BRZ... Sometimes I feel left out in the cold. Er, without dual climate and my wife in the car, I am right in the Heater!

And Yes! I was born on the same exact day as Harry... Litterly

https://i.imgflip.com/1cyh5p.jpgvia Imgflip Meme Generator

That's a fair assessment.

But did the adopted family put the FR-S in their marketing wank? I don't get Scion/Toyota spam so I don't know if the FR-S/86 is included.

A ton of Subaru dealers hate the BRZ solely because it means they cannot say all Subarus are all wheel drive any more. Not to mention they just sit on dealer lots not selling.

It was front and center because it was the only interesting thing going for Scion after they ruined the xb.

some of them still do but the sales rep must be a new hire and clueless

huh? I'm not talking about salesmen, I am talking about the people that run the dealerships. Especially in New England, but I am sure it is the same in all northern states. Subaru of New England might sell 15 BRZ's a year, and they do everything they can to not have to take any at all.

If you go look at cars.com, you'll find there are still 2 year old BRZ's sitting on lots unsold.

Same here in New Zealand.

When I was organising a meet for our 86/BRZ club I asked Subaru if they wanted to support it (Toyota already agreed) and they said they weren't interested.

I asked them about their lack of advertising and enthusiasm for the BRZ and they emailed me back to say they were struggling to market it due to their pro-AWD marketing and were not really going to bother.

I was amazed at the honesty of the reply.

Subaru must be wondering how Honda managed to market their RWD cars into holy grails and yet kept their FWD sales just fine.

There are different priorities in different countries and maybe there is a gentlemen's agreement between the two companies. For sure it is NOT the unwanted stepchild and they are proud of it. They wanted for many years to have an alternative car to the WRX, but they didn't have the money for the R&D. Why someone should have to choose in the performance category the WRX (STI) or nothing? If they didn't want it, they wouldn't use it in so many races (stock or modified).

Toyota owns 40 something % of Subaru, they had an agreement where for every fr-s sold subaru can only sell a certain number. Maybe thats why subi doesnt advertise too much. It could also be from an engineering stand point. Subi only did the motor and drive train, toyota took care of the rest. Toyota only went to subi because they needed a motor with a low center of gravity. The gt86 was all toyota subi only helped so it wouldnt make too much sense for subi to advertise something that isn't "theirs".