Subaru Tires Of Being The Birkenstock Of Automakers - Determined To Become Emotionally Appealing

Subaru, an automaker never known for its styling prowess, is turning over a new leaf.

“For the first time the company is emphasizing design as a competitive advantage,” Matt Wherry, manager-product planning and design department at Subaru Research and Development in Tustin, CA, tells WardsAuto here during a discussion of the new Impreza compact car. “We’ve made great cars, but not necessarily the most beautiful. Now they’re really going to be emotionally appealing, to a level they haven’t been before.”

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PUGPROUD - 4/7/2017 7:07:28 PM

+2 Boost

Great cars. A little more performance pizaaz would be great but don't muck it up!

MDarringer - 4/7/2017 7:39:32 PM

-2 Boost

Dumping the strange sounding boxer engine for something more smooth and refined would be a delight. Hiring someone to do the styling for them would be good too.

ricks0me - 4/7/2017 7:48:19 PM

+3 Boost

Matt: I would take the sound of the boxer engine because of the low center of gravity it provides.

MDarringer - 4/7/2017 9:36:31 PM

-2 Boost

The only problem is that is a THEORETICAL advantage and does not translate into a brilliant real-world advantage.

The mass of an engine is more crucial by its placement within a chassis.

The Subaru 4 cylinder is ahead of the front axle in most of their products, so in that respect the mass is in the "wrong" spot just like all other FWD-based designs.

As for the BRZ, the low center of gravity of the boxer engine is a dubious-at-best (non) advantage because the BRZ is not an especially brilliant performer in terms of handling.

CANADIANCOMMENTS - 4/7/2017 9:57:54 PM

+4 Boost

Odd that they would feel this way as Subaru has been on a tear in annual sales growth for the last few years. Don't make $60k Outback.

MDarringer - 4/8/2017 11:47:59 AM

-1 Boost

Toyota no doubt wants "their Subaru division" to be near premium and to be placed between Toyota and Lexus. Subaru can EASILY pull that off now. Give Subaru cars gorgeous styling and they will easily be a brand that has the potential to lay waste to the other near-premium brands (Acura, Buick, Lincoln).

Both of Toyota's "satellite" divisions (Mazda and Subaru) could easily be leveraged for Dodges and Chryslers if Toyota were to buy FCA to get its hands on Ram and Jeep.

GM's Saaburu was a great idea, but very poorly executed. Mazda has already proven it can be a great partner.