New Subaru WRX

silver6933 said:
Oh we talking about the world. Silly me. I thought we were talking about South Africa, thats why your comments made no sense.

When I live in the US, I'll get some car advice from you.
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Your argument; they don't have mass market penetration. The facts; they are breaking sales records every month. In South Africa the fast majority of vehicles are entry to mid level (<200K). Polos and Corollas have been top of pops for ages. Subaru does not trade in this segment.

Luxury vehicles are mostly used in SA as a status symbol. Subaru is not a bling car, and won't appeal to those buyers either. Doesn't take much to figure out why they don't sell as much here. Does it mean that their strategy is flawed because they don't sell too much in a very small, almost insignificant market? What it means is you can't see the bigger picture, and that frankly they couldn't give a hoot that you don't like it. In the end they are building cars that a growing number of people like, as is told by their sales.
 
I waiting to see the mod potential of the new DI engine. It should be very good with only an exhaust and ecu remap.
 
Brenden_E said:
Your argument; they don't have mass market penetration. The facts; they are breaking sales records every month. In South Africa the fast majority of vehicles are entry to mid level (<200K). Polos and Corollas have been top of pops for ages. Subaru does not trade in this segment.

Luxury vehicles are mostly used in SA as a status symbol. Subaru is not a bling car, and won't appeal to those buyers either. Doesn't take much to figure out why they don't sell as much here. Does it mean that their strategy is flawed because they don't sell too much in a very small, almost insignificant market? What it means is you can't see the bigger picture, and that frankly they couldn't give a hoot that you don't like it. In the end they are building cars that a growing number of people like, as is told by their sales.
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Please let me say at this point, that SSA ONLY imports about 1500 cars a year - Subaru was never meant to be a big seller in this market.

It has been tailored to be a niche market car from Day One out here.

To start comparing it with other car sales in SA is a pointless exercise.
 
Fazda said:
Please let me say at this point, that SSA ONLY imports about 1500 cars a year - Subaru was never meant to be a big seller in this market.

It has been tailored to be a niche market car from Day One out here.

To start comparing it with other car sales in SA is a pointless exercise.
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Even if they aimed to be mass-market here, they don't have the portfolio for it.
 
Brenden_E said:
Your argument; they don't have mass market penetration. . In the end they are building cars that a growing number of people like, as is told by their sales.
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Everything you said about worldwide market sales is true. They are doing phenomenally well in the US. Hence the responsiveness of Subaru JPN to USA requests. And I think it is a good strategy.

I was commenting on the SA market, and I wish they did as well here. I really is a under rated car. Pricing locally is causing the issue. The markup on my car was 50K.

But I think SSA has finally recognized that pricing is key in SA and are trying to keep the price down. They used to factory fit a large amount of the optional items . Hence the pricing in SA was higher than the comparable markets. < see BRZ sales vs 86 sales>

This has changed with the new models. Even the STI does not get Recaro seat anymore. I am sure that you can still order them.
 
Fazda said:
To start comparing it with other car sales in SA is a pointless exercise.
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Look I want Subaru SA to grow and become sustainable. This means more choice of Subaru variants for us the buyers. Currently SSA has stopped selling the impreza and legacy model range, primarily because of a lack of sustainable sales numbers.That is a shame as the 3.6R and 3.0R legacy really competed well. And was a very reliable motor.

But I am sure they can do better than a 100 cars a month for 11 dealerships. I think they have shifted their pricing strategy and I think that is a good thing. They have improved their customer service dramatically over the past 12 years.
 
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silver6933 said:
Everything you said about worldwide market sales is true. They are doing phenomenally well in the US. Hence the responsiveness of Subaru JPN to USA requests. And I think it is a good strategy.

I was commenting on the SA market, and I wish they did as well here. I really is a under rated car. Pricing locally is causing the issue. The markup on my car was 50K.

But I think SSA has finally recognized that pricing is key in SA and are trying to keep the price down. They used to factory fit a large amount of the optional items . Hence the pricing in SA was higher than the comparable markets. < see BRZ sales vs 86 sales>

This has changed with the new models. Even the STI does not get Recaro seat anymore. I am sure that you can still order them.
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Toyota has the footprint to get tax discounts. I don't see how Subaru will have the capacity anytime soon to open a factory here. They don't put up a great mark-up on their products, it's being pushed up artificially via tax. One of the primary reasons the GT86 is cheaper than the BRZ.

If anything, Subaru does a very decent job at still competing in what can be construed as an unfair market.
 
Brenden_E said:
Toyota has the footprint to get tax discounts.
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100% agree with you. Toyota get more tax credits.

Brenden_E said:
They don't put up a great mark-up on their products, it's being pushed up artificially via tax.
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This I have to disagree with you. The BRZ was discounted 40K by the dealers to sell the in hand stock. Also SSA has to have a higher markup on sales, because of the lower sales volume. They also must have a higher markup on part prices. Otherwise the dealerships would just not be economically viable.
 
We are currently working on a 7% margin which is minute when compared to some cars _ Fiat/Alfa are sitting at a 14% to 17% margin, if you want to compare.

Toyota does get a break when compared to us - running with a 7% margin before any discounting comes into the picture makes almost every deal very difficult to structure - BMW, for example will throw 60 k at a car without batting an eyelid -bloody awful situation to be in from a sales perspective.
 
So approx 30K margin on the WRX.

Thanks for the info Fazda. I do hope Subaru finds a way to grow its sales.
 
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OK - the gloves are off - our first shipment of the STi has arrived - Bloody Beautiful!

We have a white and a blue in stock. :D

5571.jpg
 
Joker said:
Can you post a few camera pics of the one you have in stock?
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We have a blue and a white, blue is sold already - same as the pic I posted except for the wheels which are silver, thank goodness!

I'll try and get shots tomorrow.
 
Anyone buy one of these yet? Think I'll book a test drive for the end of the month - time to find a replacement for my 3 series.
 
phiber said:
Anyone buy one of these yet? Think I'll book a test drive for the end of the month - time to find a replacement for my 3 series.
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I've now been driving my demo for almost a month and all that I can say is that it is streets ahead of the old one.

Super car to drive in every respect.
 
Fazda said:
I've now been driving my demo for almost a month and all that I can say is that it is streets ahead of the old one.

Super car to drive in every respect.
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Ok cool, will go test drive. I've got a few days off at the end of the month - will book some time here in jhb.

What sort of deal can you do on the car? Also, is does it have a glass sunroof or just standard?
 
Glass sunroof is standard.

We aren't discounting at the moment, just selling at 449 on the road, which means that your "discount" is the OTR fee.

It may be different in JHB, but SSA has asked us NOT to discount them.
 
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