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| Posted By:
aekOne
@ 30 January 2012 - 07:32 PM |
Subaru’s troubled people-mover to fade into history late this year.
Subaru has confirmed it will dump its controversial Tribeca, with the soft-roader-based people mover now likely to disappear from the Australian market as early as next year.
While Subaru has previously hinted at the Tribeca’s demise, Akihide Takeuchi, the car maker’s project manager for its product and portfilio planning division, confirmed to Drive this week that the Tribeca’s US production line would start to switch off in December, ending a troubled seven-year run for a vehicle that sparked one of the fastest facelifts in automotive history.
The Tribeca still sells in significant volumes in Australia - according to Subaru’s local chief executive, Nick Senior, it still accounts for 100 sales a month with very little advertising budget - but Takeuchi says capacity of the Tribeca’s US-based production line is needed for other models in the Subaru line-up.
Subaru’s Indiana-based factory has an annual capacity of about 200,000 cars, but the line is shared with rival Japanese car maker Toyota, which uses it to build its Camry mid-size car.
While Subaru plans to switch its US production priorities to building the Outback and Legacy (Liberty) models, Takeuchi says there is also growing pressure from Toyota to give more of the plant’s annual capacity to the Camry, which was the largest selling passenger car in the US last year.
However, Senior says he will be disappointed if the Tribeca is removed from the Australian market without a replacement being named.
‘‘Australia is the second-largest market for the Tribeca outside the US, and it’s a really important car for our line-up,’’ he says.
‘‘It’s a car that Subaru owners can grow up with, and it’s the only SUV-based people-mover that we have.’’
Senior says he had hoped to sell the Tribeca in Australia ‘‘for at least the next 18 months’’, and the shorter timeframe for the vehicle’s demise is ‘‘disappointing’’.
Subaru does have another people-mover in its line-up, the mid-sized, six-seat Liberty Exiga, but Senior says its smaller form is unable to fill the void left by the Tribeca’s departure.
The Tribeca launched in Australia in late 2006, and drew immediate criticism for its propeller-inspired face and lacklustre, thirsty 3.0-litre six-cylinder boxer engine that struggled with the people-mover’s 1900kg heft.
Just 12 months later, Subaru Australia made the call to introduce a facelifted version of the Tribeca featuring a less confronting facia and a larger 3.6-litre version of the six-cylinder engine.
The facelift also answered criticism of the lack of visibility from the optional third-row seats, and featured significantly larger rear-quarter windows.
The poor reaction to the original version of the Tribeca caused such a ripple within Subaru that it dramatically changed the way it surveyed would-be customers about its upcoming cars.
This info and more can be found at: http://theage.drive.com.au
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Toggle this category Subaru: Why we changed our AWD-only strategy
| Posted By:
aekOne
@ 24 January 2012 - 08:56 PM |
The boss of Subaru Australia says the BRZ sports car's overarching impression as a "driver's car" was strong enough to convince the company to divert from its 15-year exclusive all-wheel-drive strategy.
Subaru Australia managing director Nick Senior says despite the BRZ's rear-wheel-drive underpinnings, the vehicle is in line with the company's existing 'All 4 The Driver' philosophy, and would not force a rebranding or fresh marketing direction.
Senior said the deciding factor for bringing the BRZ to Australia was "the comfort that it was a Subaru and [embodies] a true spirit of a Subaru – that is a driver's car and is fun to drive".
He said the BRZ would not have been considered for our market if it was developed as a front-wheel-drive car rather than rear-wheel drive.
"I think if it was ever a front-wheel drive, then no, that's an easy decision to make."
The Subaru BRZ, which has been a joint project between Toyota and Subaru, has also resulted in the soon-to-be-released Toyota 86 and the Toyota-based Scion FRS for the US market. All three models share the majority of their underpinnings and are based on an Impreza platform using a Subaru boxer engine, albeit with Toyota's direct-injection technology. As a result, many have questioned Toyota's involvement and input into the 86.
Referring to the BRZ, Mr Senior said "fundamentally I think it has more of a Subaru heart to it than a Toyota".
Pricing and specification levels are still undetermined but we believe the high-spec Subaru BRZ destined for Australia will cost more than both entry-level and top-spec Toyota 86 variants.
Meanwhile, the future of the Subaru WRX and STI remains unclear following the models' earlier divorce from the Impreza family. The current WRX/STI vehicles (based on the old third-generation Impreza) are expected to remain on sale in a largely unchanged format until the next-generation sports cars are released.
"[We are] still in the process of looking at the next-generation and direction of WRX and STI. We've been looking and evaluating as to which direction it would go. Does it go more upmarket? Does it go more hard-core?"
It's yet to be determined if the WRX and STI will share the platform of the upcoming fourth-generation Impreza small car or use a modified version.
This info and more can be found at: http://www.caradvice.com.au
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Toggle this category Subaru WRX STI Returns for Grand-Am Continental Sports Car Challenge
| Posted By:
aekOne
@ 24 January 2012 - 08:47 PM |
Subaru has announced that Andrew Aquilante and Bret Spaude will return as factory team drivers for their entry in the Grand Sport (GS) class of the 2012 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. The first round of the series will take place at Daytona International Speedway on January 27th, 2012.
Subaru will be fielding a race-prepped 2012 four-door WRX STI, developed specifically to compete with all the other 400-hp vehicles in the class. Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT) has been working on a technical progression for the number-35 STI during the off-season and appears to be optimistic heading into round one of the championship.
SRRT Principal Joe Aquilante noted, “We’ve enjoyed a very productive off-season, and our team is looking forward to getting back to the business of racing our Subaru WRX STI. Our drivers have been focusing on honing their physical fitness while our technical staff has been diligently progressing our car development plan. To say that we’re excited for Daytona is an understatement.”
Round one of the 2012 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge starts January 27th at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, FL.
This info and more can be found at: http://www.autoguide.com
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