mart360

Saw this on PH earlier

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/defa...?storyId=26839

So Subaru have pulled out of the UK for the saloon/ hatch range

Hardly surprising really though

RIP Impreza Classic

Mart

corradoboy

Their own fault, misjudged their market and the economy. Just as the world suddenly had no cash, they decided that a £22-24K car was worth £34k, and that it could have the mass market appeal of the German bland-wagons. They replaced an iconic saloon with an ugly hatch that looked almost identical to the boring Mazda 3. The much-loved burble was removed (OK, I admit, for good reason) along with the frameless doors, and the point of it being a hatch was lost when chassis bracing meant the rear seats didn't fold down The new cars are superb, I have driven one back-to-back against an 05 STi and found the new car to be both more refined and significantly faster, without feeling so. The world has moved on, and Subaru has been left behind as their legacy customers moved on, and new customers became thin on the ground due to job losses, pay cuts, fuel price rises, extortionate insurance premiums, and an image becoming tarnished by the 20yo examples of this fine car being affordable to people that will attract nothing but disrespect to the brand.

Me, I'd have another in a heartbeat if I could justify it.

Saxo Boy

As I see it, one of the big problems was the price to performance ratio. When the Impreza first came out it offered big league performance for IIRC about £20k. As the article states, in recent times it has offered average run-of-the-mill performance for circa £30k putting it amongst an array of similarly specced and priced offerings from other manufacturers.

While I accept it is probably unrealistic in today's world, the Impreza probably needed 370-400bhp out the box for £25k to pull off the same trick. I would imagine that to achieve that it would have to have similarly ****e build quality to it's 1990s counterpart and virtually no mass-market appeal. That said, I bet it would still have a cult following with those numbers.

It's sad but not entirely unexpected. I have to say the current WRX STI is a lovely looking vehicle, probably drives very well and was recently cut to £26k; too little too late perhaps?

pslewis

I'm gutted by this news, although I did predict it over 2 years ago.

I was lucky enough to own an Impreza Turbo from new - and kept the very same car for over 10 years ..... I never, ever, regretted that purchase - all £22,600 of it in the year 2000!!

It gave me 10 years of performance, 100% reliability, 100% fun and 100% it was a car in demand - the ultimate Cult car of the 90's and into the early 00's.

When it came to the point of change I desperately wanted Subaru to offer me the same mix of power and value ..... I took out a WRX-S and wanted to buy it, but it just looked like the cooking model - at silly high money.

I then took out the STi 330 for probably the most enjoyable 45minutes driving of my life - the Subaru dealer handed me the keys and let me get on with it ........ only when I saw the £33,000 price tag was the smile wiped from my face!

I went and bought a Honda Civic TypeS GT Diesel ...... for less than £18,000. It too delivers smiles - but, on an absolute bargain budget.

And that's it in a nutshell ....... price - value - desireability .... these were all wrong.

I can say that if that WRX-S had the STi Bodywork then I WOULD have bought it in a heartbeat, no question about it. As I said earlier, it just looked like the 1.5 - a marketing disaster for Subaru!

The WRX STi 330 needed to be £25,000 to fight off the competition .... it wasn't - so failed.

I am genuinely, honestly, disappointed that Subaru will no longer be offering a performance vehicle ........ sad, sad, sad day

That said, anyone fancy a 12 month old, 10,000 mile WRX STi 330 for £10,000? That's what they will have fallen to with this news ....... I may even buy one for weekend fun!!

jameswrx

iTrader: (4)

In real terms, what would the price Of the 2000 turbo be now though? £22k 12 years ago, surely £30k isn't far off being any different relatively speaking?

Busterbulldog

iTrader: (1)

They have 6 months stock of Stis

Brun

.....so they have 2 then?

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Subaru haven't pulled out the UK: INTERNATIONAL MOTORS Ltd have decided to stop importing them.

There is a difference; One makes the product, the other sells it. The article and people's assumptions they are one of the same is a simplistic one.

As a importer of a poor selling vehicle, you aren't going to import more knowing you can't shift the stock you already have. The yen is too strong and the importer has too many overheads so the car is too expensive to make it desirable over its EU equivelents (plus its ugly and not too reliable either...see the engine failure sticky).

So its basic business sense.

As a manufacturer of a poor selling vehicle, well. Maybe it needs the importers to start pulling the plug to get its finger out and make a product that people want? I mean, Blingy Lexus lights and quad exhausts? seriously? What target market was this car made for...15yr old boys?

Still IM are known for dropping bollocks; How IM managed to keep importing Isuzus when its still having to manage warranty claims on 9 year old Isuzu Troopers with the dreaded 3.0DOHC Diesel engine. It has to be a massive drain on their economic resources. Maybe its learnt its lesson on the Isuzu fiasco and they cut off the 2.5l engined Imprezas before too many chickens come home to roost?

dsmith

No-one else getting the irony of this thread in Non-scooby.....

corradoboy

Could be an opportunity for the likes of Iain Litchfield to become the exclusive importer of Impreza's. Half a dozen regional independent specialists to take care of servicing and repairs dotted around the UK, and awesome JDM spec STi's sold in limited numbers to create a respected enthusiast customer base.

Don Clark

And who is going to buy these "awesome JDM spec STi's" when they cost in the region of £44K when imported ????

EDIT: The price for the current WRX STi was set in 2010, so I doubt if IM is making much, if anything, on the last of the line...........

Another reason for not bringing in a car they would have difficulty selling, would the the cost tied up in the required parts they would need to hold in stock as official importers.


Ali-B summed it up very well. It's purely an economic decision, where sentiment and nostalgia play no part.

DrDiesel

Subaru has indeed lost its way. As noted above, the current WRX STi is very capable, but its over-priced, and doesn't look the part. It just blends in with the mundane in supermarket car parks.

Subaru's only saviour (in the performance market) would be a high-powered BRZ. (how about a Spec-C or Type RA-R BRZ??) Will it become a future icon though? Probably not.

Please hang on to your Classics, Bugs, Blobs & Hawks, as too many are breaking them up for a quick buck.

corradoboy

Litchfield already sells the Spec C for £30k, and a modified 'Sport' variant akin to the old Type20 for £34k, so a base model JDM STi could be around the £27k mark. Add in the potential reduction in retail price due to volume if he did start increasing his sales by taking up the slack from IM pulling the Impreza and it could work. He has the contacts, the knowledge and the skills to do it, whether he thinks it would work and is prepared to take that gamble is up to him of course, but if I'd had the money for a brand new Scoob at any time in the last 5-7 years I would have been in his showroom long before I would have stepped in an official dealership.

SPEN555

The exchange rate has completely killed it. When I bought my MY03 JDM STi in 2003 the yen was 188 to the pound. It has hit a recent high of 135 (so GBP cost up 40%!) but no where near enough to make it worthwhile importing STi's.

Don Clark

Think you'll find your prices are a couple of years out of date and apply to the older models...............

He no longer lists prices for import and is concentrating on power upgrades.

No market at present for new imports just ask Juggers.................

corradoboy

Those prices were lifted from his website today, but he does issue a disclaimer related to the exchange rate. He'd do better removing prices altogether IMHO. I suppose the exchange rates will reverse at some point, and the economy will improve, and maybe then we can all think about buying Scoobs again, or whatever becomes the performance icon of the next generation.

Abx

iTrader: (15)

Talking of Juggers, whats happened to PCM, the site seems to have vanished?

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

No longer trading, £ vs Yen makes it un-competitive to import from Japan at the moment which has been the case for a few years now. Shame as he's a great lad, I bought 2 Jap cars from him in the past.

TX.

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

I also think that the reliability issues that affected the 2.5's and the way that Subaru dealt with failures has put people off. Personally I really like the hatch STI (can't stand the understated WRX) but I will not buy one because it has the 2.5, if it had the 2 litre I'd have one sat on my driveway right now!

Pulling out of the WRC and the way the WRC has gone really hasn't helped sales either.

mickp

iTrader: (1)

There are economic factors to this decision but Subaru UK have done so much to help it along. A whole catalogue of errors, poor service and body swerving have left them with no where to go. So many die hards have caught a cold and will never return.

Such a shame and I cannot see dealers being happy with what they have for the future. The end is near (and that's what they deserve) IMHO

joz8968

iTrader: (13)

Yep, just seen it here:-

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/subaru/...rce=newsletter

It was "inebidible" (as Brad Pitt would summise).

mrmadcap

Why would you want a BRZ? It's a totally different car to the Impreza.
That's misplaced loyalty gone mad.

Truss

iTrader: (2)

I think that they needed to overhaul the engine.
All i get asked when I say I own a subaru is "Ouch, I bet it costs an arm and a leg in fuel".
To me, I dont care what it costs, I love my car.

But, when the germans are making 2ltr cars capable of around 400bhp that will return 30+ to the gallon, why would joe average in britain want a subaru that returns half of that?
Not sure of fuel prices in japan, but the US and the like are still snapping them up.

mrmadcap

Fuels so cheap in the US, I recently hired a compact (as they call them) and I struggled to get 15 quid of petrol in it to fill it up to the gunnels. At one stage I though there was a defect with the pump