Subaru has bucked the trend in North America by increasing sales there, despite the slowing car market.Subaru sales in the US were up 5.4 per cent in July 2008 over July 2007, and the upward trend is expected to continue; the Japanese car maker should hit its 200,000-unit target for the year.The new Impreza is credited with much of the success, with the new hatchback model proving more popular than the previous Impreza saloon. Subaru also dropped the base price of the new Impreza by $500 to $17,640 (£9182).The success of the new Impreza in the US is in contrast to the car’s poor reception here in the UK, where it has sold just 1034 units so far in 2008. Subaru US is predicting that it will sell more than 46,000 Imprezas this year.Low UK sales are put down to the lack of a diesel engine, and that problem won’t be solved until February next year, when the new boxer diesel becomes available in the Impreza.
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Re: Success for Subaru US
"Low UK sales are put down to the lack of a diesel engine"
Previous Imprezas sold for their performance, and typically if you're after a performance car you buy one which runs on petrol. Diesels are for rep-mobiles and shopping carts.
Poor UK sales are because the new Impreza is a damp squid. To make excuses for a lackluster offering from Subaru does them a disservice.
The only question is why didn't Subaru learn from the quickly modified google-eyed model?
The only move that Subaru can do with this car is to reduce the price. Increasing the STi by £ 1,600 after getting mediocre reviews was badly judged when it really should have been reduced by at least £ 2,500. Standard STi should be £ 17,000 to compete closer to the Focus ST.