Subaru posts slight 2008 sales increase

[steve_spackman]

from yahoo business

Subaru says its U.S. sales crept higher in 2008 on strong demand for Forester and Impreza models. The Japanese company is set to be the only major automaker to post an increase in yearly sales. Subaru of America says its December sales fell 7.7 percent to 17,287 units from 18,739 units last year, as a big increase in Forester sales failed to overcome declines in its remaining models.
But Subaru's sales for all of 2008 crept higher by 0.3 percent to 187,699 vehicles from 187,208 in 2007 as customers snapped up its Forester and Impreza models.
Subaru is the first automaker to report December and full-year sales on Monday. The company is poised to be the only major automaker to report a sales increase for 2008 as the difficult economy pummeled new vehicle sales across the industry

[ProRally]

Good for Travis Pastrana and Ken Block who get most of their funding from Subaru of America !!

[COD]

And makes their reason for the pull out from WRC look embarrasing from both FIA's, Prodrives and Subarus point of view. It was not because of economics but because of bad series and bad results.

[jonas_mcrae]

proves pastrana and block are doing a good job selling subarus, and that all their stunts just create more publicity.

[Daniel]

So they sold 400 more cars? How much LESS did they make. That's the real story. People seem to think if manufacturers are selling more cars they're making money which simply isn't true.

[WRCfan]

Ken and Travis will keep on rallying, and promoting the marque. Pity the new Group N Impreza looks like a pregnant slug..

[Gard]

So they sold 400 more cars? How much LESS did they make. That's the real story. People seem to think if manufacturers are selling more cars they're making money which simply isn't true.

Finally something we can agree on ;)

Problem is that Subaru sold much less in Europe and other markets. Only in Norway I believe it's about 1300 cars less than 2007. They also had to reduce prices to get cars sold at all.

[ST205GT4]

I seriously doubt Pastrana and Block could claim that they have done much to improve Subaru's sales figures in the States. I seldom saw any advertising with either of them done by Subaru whilst living in the States.

Saw plenty of advertising with Lance Armstrong when he was a Subaru ambassador though. Lots better known to the public.

[L5->R5/CR]

I seriously doubt Pastrana and Block could claim that they have done much to improve Subaru's sales figures in the States. I seldom saw any advertising with either of them done by Subaru whilst living in the States.

Saw plenty of advertising with Lance Armstrong when he was a Subaru ambassador though. Lots better known to the public.

Some of that has most certainly changed Ben.

Plus, with so little market share, 2-3%, you don't have to do much to have an impact (a big reason why Subaru justifies the money spent).

But you haven't been in the states the last couple of years, there has been a lot more advertising using the rally cars as well as the silly X Games stuff and Ken Block's antics in all of the different snow and skate magazines that wasn't happening while you were hear.

[Daniel]

Some of that has most certainly changed Ben.

Plus, with so little market share, 2-3%, you don't have to do much to have an impact (a big reason why Subaru justifies the money spent).

But you haven't been in the states the last couple of years, there has been a lot more advertising using the rally cars as well as the silly X Games stuff and Ken Block's antics in all of the different snow and skate magazines that wasn't happening while you were hear.
So if the skating tie up works so well then why are people buying more Foresters? :confused:

I'm sorry but most skaters don't have that money. Sure they can find money to buy expensive shoes and stuff for their skateboards but they don't go around buying WRX's :)

[L5->R5/CR]

So if the skating tie up works so well then why are people buying more Foresters? :confused:

I'm sorry but most skaters don't have that money. Sure they can find money to buy expensive shoes and stuff for their skateboards but they don't go around buying WRX's :)



You might be surprised at the money that some of the skate culture people here in the states have.

Go to any skate park or mall here in Colorado and you'll be hard pressed not to find a WRX with at least one DC shoes sticker on it for instance.

One thing you have to factor in is that one of the places where this culture is the most popular and prevelant here in the states is in the suburbs. Lots of kiddos getting mommy and daddy to buy them a car.

I can't even begin to count the number of under 25 skate culture kids that I have come across in 2005 or later WRXs or USDM STIs. Here in Colorado lots of the snow and skate kiddies want Subaru's to get them to the mountains to ski/board in the winter. There is a small but meaningful tie in in the market place that has really been worked over and expanded upon by the silly antics.

I think it is funny that there is some person in the UK telling me how Subaru's marketing is or isn't working in the US...


PS in the US, a fair number of the snow and skate culture kiddos do in fact have the money, hence why they are such a targeted and lucrative market segment...

[Daniel]

You might be surprised at the money that some of the skate culture people here in the states have.

Go to any skate park or mall here in Colorado and you'll be hard pressed not to find a WRX with at least one DC shoes sticker on it for instance.

One thing you have to factor in is that one of the places where this culture is the most popular and prevelant here in the states is in the suburbs. Lots of kiddos getting mommy and daddy to buy them a car.

I can't even begin to count the number of under 25 skate culture kids that I have come across in 2005 or later WRXs or USDM STIs. Here in Colorado lots of the snow and skate kiddies want Subaru's to get them to the mountains to ski/board in the winter. There is a small but meaningful tie in in the market place that has really been worked over and expanded upon by the silly antics.

I think it is funny that there is some person in the UK telling me how Subaru's marketing is or isn't working in the US...


PS in the US, a fair number of the snow and skate culture kiddos do in fact have the money, hence why they are such a targeted and lucrative market segment...

My point was merely that the growth was in the sectors you wouldn't expect the Ken Block and Travis Pastrana effect to help them. I'm sure it does sell some cars. Advertising will always appeal to someone, but the claims that Subaru was doing fine because of this advertising were a bit off the mark that's all.

[L5->R5/CR]

My point was merely that the growth was in the sectors you wouldn't expect the Ken Block and Travis Pastrana effect to help them. I'm sure it does sell some cars. Advertising will always appeal to someone, but the claims that Subaru was doing fine because of this advertising were a bit off the mark that's all.

Where did I say that they were doing fine because of advertising?

I said they were advertising more and utilizing the rally program more in their marketing.

In fact, where in here:

Some of that has most certainly changed Ben.

Plus, with so little market share, 2-3%, you don't have to do much to have an impact (a big reason why Subaru justifies the money spent).

But you haven't been in the states the last couple of years, there has been a lot more advertising using the rally cars as well as the silly X Games stuff and Ken Block's antics in all of the different snow and skate magazines that wasn't happening while you were hear.

Did I say anything about Subaru doing fine? I simply stated that they were advertising more. Either I am high or you're drunk.

My initial reply that was directed specifically at you was merely in difference to your assertion that the segment that most of their promotional activities has been focused on was unable to represent potential car buyers. This isn't a point worth debating as you are unable to differeniate between skaters and members of the skate culture, perhaps because you are in the UK and lack perspective relative to the US. Hundreds of Subaru's are sold here in Colorado to this exact market segment (certainly not enough to make or break any given sales year but without them in their entirety they would have sold fewer cars in 2008 than 2007). Just because the skater can't afford the car doesn't mean the kid that wishes he was a skater and dresses and acts like one can't...

[Daniel]

Where did I say that they were doing fine because of advertising?

I said they were advertising more and utilizing the rally program more in their marketing.

In fact, where in here:


Did I say anything about Subaru doing fine? I simply stated that they were advertising more. Either I am high or you're drunk.

My initial reply that was directed specifically at you was merely in difference to your assertion that the segment that most of their promotional activities has been focused on was unable to represent potential car buyers. This isn't a point worth debating as you are unable to differeniate between skaters and members of the skate culture, perhaps because you are in the UK and lack perspective relative to the US. Hundreds of Subaru's are sold here in Colorado to this exact market segment (certainly not enough to make or break any given sales year but without them in their entirety they would have sold fewer cars in 2008 than 2007). Just because the skater can't afford the car doesn't mean the kid that wishes he was a skater and dresses and acts like one can't...
I didn't say you said Subaru was doing fine. So you're not high and I'm not drunk, you're simply mistaken ;)

[ST205GT4]

I think you'd have to agree that Subaru already had excellent market penetration in the northern states of the US well before Travis or Ken appeared on the scene Kevin. Especially in your home state for example. Liberty/Legacy sedans and wagons are a dime a dozen in Colorado, exactly as you say because people see them as practical cars to get them to the snow fields and safe to drive around normally as well.

Let's face it. 99% of the mainstream public in the US would probably say "huh?" if you asked them what the Rally America series was. And being the series champion would mean nothing to most of the viewing public. Now if Subaru were winning Nascar that would be good publicity! Sadly...

I think you're probably looking at it through slightly rose tinted glasses because you're slow close to both the sport and the personalities in the US. Understandable!

[L5->R5/CR]

I think you'd have to agree that Subaru already had excellent market penetration in the northern states of the US well before Travis or Ken appeared on the scene Kevin. Especially in your home state for example. Liberty/Legacy sedans and wagons are a dime a dozen in Colorado, exactly as you say because people see them as practical cars to get them to the snow fields and safe to drive around normally as well.

Let's face it. 99% of the mainstream public in the US would probably say "huh?" if you asked them what the Rally America series was. And being the series champion would mean nothing to most of the viewing public. Now if Subaru were winning Nascar that would be good publicity! Sadly...

I think you're probably looking at it through slightly rose tinted glasses because you're slow close to both the sport and the personalities in the US. Understandable!


I think it is closer to about 3% awareness at this point.

I'm not delusional, but at the same time, a lot has changed in the last two or three years in terms of the profile of the sport. Its a pretty radical change (the faintest whiff of a hint of something versus nothing) but any change when it is so small is tangible.

You have to factor in the Rally Car portion of the X Games, as little as it has to do with actual rallying, hit something like 2.3 million in the US live in August. A variety of viral video projects have a combine total over 6 million hits plus there was about 950+ pages of print media coverage in magazines with a circulation of at least 8,500 copies per issue dedicated to rallying. There will be noticeable overlap in impressions but those figures are all significantly up from 2006 when you were last here.

It is pretty fair to say that there has been progress. It is more like 5 drops in a very large bucket instead of 2 or 3 but that is more drops none the less...

You can say that is viewing things through rose colored glasses but the impact of TP and KB has really developed over the past couple years. Rallying isn't really a real blip on the overall US radar but its bigger than it was a couple years ago...

[steve_spackman]

Where did I say that they were doing fine because of advertising?

I said they were advertising more and utilizing the rally program more in their marketing.

In fact, where in here:


Did I say anything about Subaru doing fine? I simply stated that they were advertising more. Either I am high or you're drunk.

My initial reply that was directed specifically at you was merely in difference to your assertion that the segment that most of their promotional activities has been focused on was unable to represent potential car buyers. This isn't a point worth debating as you are unable to differeniate between skaters and members of the skate culture, perhaps because you are in the UK and lack perspective relative to the US. Hundreds of Subaru's are sold here in Colorado to this exact market segment (certainly not enough to make or break any given sales year but without them in their entirety they would have sold fewer cars in 2008 than 2007). Just because the skater can't afford the car doesn't mean the kid that wishes he was a skater and dresses and acts like one can't...

Subaru does well in the US rally scene as they are the only 'makes' in the series...just like Mitsu in the Dakar rally, they have no real threat from anyone including VW

[cali]

Subaru does well in the US rally scene as they are the only 'makes' in the series...just like Mitsu in the Dakar rally, they have no real threat from anyone including VW
Your point is...??