Quote:
Originally Posted by Cal3000
How is it that a WRX, which is larger, uses more material, has a turbo charger, intercooler, ducting, an extra diff, a transfer case, stronger rods and pistons, larger wheels, can be the same price?
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Only the base model is the same price. It rapidly increases in price as you move up the trim packages. The STI sets the top of the price range and can't really go over a certain amount without starting to be too expensive for what it is. The three trim levels below it have to be pushed down to stay under the STI and keep large enough intervals between the trim levels to justify having them and take full advantage of price discrimination.
I suspect Subaru would like to price the BRZ even lower to stay "below" the base WRX but can't do it while still keeping the platform profitable. As it stands, when someone comes in to look at a BRZ but doesn't think it would be practical, the salesman can say, "Well, for the same price you could move up into a WRX instead." And then pretty soon he'd have them in a WRX Limited, spending considerably more money than they intended but okay with it because it's all financed anyway. I know when I first went to test drive the BRZ, the salesman tried pretty hard to steer me over to a WRX instead and get me into that "upgrade" game.
In fact, I kind of wonder how many base WRXs they actually sell. I'd somehow expect that they sell a lot more of the next trim level up and just use the base model to get people interested and provide a starting point for the sales pitch.
Also, there are undoubtedly some restrictions in the contracts between Toyota and Subaru regarding what can be done with the platform. Subaru surely doesn't want Toyota offering a turbo 86 that might siphon away customers from its turbo cars. If Toyota offered a turbo 86, it would also force Subaru to offer a turbo BRZ to avoid having ALL its sales go over to the Toyota version of the car. If Toyota isn't allowed to do it, they're certainly not going to let Subaru do it either. They're kind of locked into a death clinch that only allows small incremental performance upgrades.