Nante hazukashi! (How embarrassing!) Japanese car manufacturers show very bad manners and use red ink in their books.
Fuji Heavy, makers of Subaru, posted its first net loss in 15 years in the fiscal year ended March, the Nikkei [sub] says. Resposible? The usual suspects: Sluggish consumption, tighter conditions, a drop in vehicle sales in all major markets, and the yen’s rise.
Fuji Heavy posted a net loss of ¥69.93 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, sharply down from a net profit of ¥18.48 billion a year earlier. Says the Nikkei: “For this fiscal year, Fuji Heavy, in which Toyota Motor Corp. owns a 16 percent stake, projects a net loss of ¥55 billion, operating loss of ¥35 billion and sales of ¥1.320 trillion, with auto demand likely to remain stagnant and the yen strong.”
Maybe it has something to do with the complete mediocrity and blandness of their current products (WRX excepted). The Forester has an awful auto trans. and is too fat, the Impreza ranges from excellent above $30k to completely unrecognizably bland for anything less and the upcoming Legacy looks about as exciting as the outgoing Gallant. They don’t have the Toyota reliability rep. to prop up their increasingly uninteresting products.
They’re begining to deserve the fail, and that’s too bad as Subaru is a brand I’ve generally admired. I’m looking forward to Suzuki as the new Subaru.
Are we sure that Fuji Heavy Industry’s loss is to be blamed on Subaru’s car division?
Doesn’t the company also have dealings in some aerospace manufacturing and industrial engines?
Gee they lost less than everyone else and oh were up last month unlike everyone else.
Its a good niche brand.
“Its a good niche brand.”
It’s a good niche brand that thinks it can be the next Honda or Toyota. It won’t end well (and by that I mean they succeed and I lose all interest or they don’t and lose the niche customers).
Nante Hazukashi (what happened to my boobs)
I just met with their corporate folks and they have aspirations to bigger market share and they should be interested in their business or get out of it.
Subaru’s products are reflecting their desire to suit a broader consumer interest while maintaining their uniqueness and it’s having broad appeal in my market area. I see lots of Forester and Impreza models on the road.
My issue as a marketing person is a question of how do I position an Impreza against an extremely well equipped Mazda3 for about the same price? Even the WRX and MazdaSpeed3 are matched to the point that the only advantage Subaru offers is AWD. Mazda brings platform refinement and reduced NVH and broader content.
Hopefully things improve for them so they have no excuse to stay out of World Rally…
The sake-drinking surrender monkeys.
“They don’t have the Toyota reliability rep. to prop up their increasingly uninteresting products.”
You mean as compared to the interesting products from Toyota?
Subaru may not have the reputation, but Subarus are extremely reliable nonetheless. Granted, the new Subaru lineup is hideous, but if you compare it to the Toyota’s lineup of Jane Austen-edition boringmobiles and you might see things differently. At least Subaru still makes a car with some excitement (the STI).
Honda? Not if the S2000 is gone. Toyota? Haven’t made an interesting car since dumping the MR Spyder.
RichardD
I’m not trying to slam Subaru’s reliability, I’m just saying that the general public dosen’t hold that up as the brand’s virtue. I like them making all wheel drive flat engined slightly awkward cars just fine.
My problem is that I see an interesting brand going Toyota. I just don’t think it’ll work (and I don’t want it to more to the point). Toyota dosen’t sell cars because they’re boring, they sell cars despite the boringness. Subaru has a strong fan base that knows the cars they buy aren’t conventional and I think they’ll flee from a newly blandified lineup. The customers that replace them aren’t going to have a strong reason to want and stay with the brand minus the legendary quality rep.
I agree about Honda. Just because you can rev. the piss out of their 4 cylinders doesn’t make them super-mavericky as a brand. Still, if they were to dumb down the Accord and Civic to Toyota levels they’d still probably sell just as many, because they do have something like Toyota’s reputation.
The Forester and base Impreza are what I was referring to as “increasingly uninteresting.” I think the Forester in particular is shameful with that transmission (I rented one for a drive to Illinois and a friend has one). The WRX, with or without STI trim, are still awesome, even if I’ve always preferred the Mitsu competition.
I really liked the old Forester.
I don’t agree that Subaru thinks “it can be the next Honda or Toyota”; the results when they last made such an attempt in the early 1990s almost drove them from the US market (see Randall Rothenberg’s Where the Suckers Moon, concerning the full-line “What to Drive” campaign). Subaru only survived in the US by limiting its model lineup and going AWD-only.
I do despair for Subaru nonetheless. The boxer engine is about all that now distinguishes its products from others with available AWD in the markets such as New England that are its home base of loyalists in the US. And with its cars growing taller, the low center of gravity of the Subaru drivetrain has less of an effect on the total (increased) mass.
(I’m one of those who has always preferred the Legacy over the raised Outback – that is, I probably enjoy using the AWD on dry roads more than most Subie drivers do – and I lament the end of the 20-year run of proper Legacy vehicles. I’ll have to see for myself, but I can’t believe the fantastic outward visibility of my 5-speed ’03 Legacy wagon could be matched by the new model with its evidently higher cowl.)
tedward :
Good points. I agree. Fortunately, after the first loss in 15 years I’m sure the head of Fuji/Subaru will have to do some harakiri and that will be suitable punishment for the uglifying/wimpifying of the current line.
I dream of a Toyobaru AE86 model with a transplanted STI awd drivetrain…
Damn Subaru… Why can’t they be more like Chrysler and GM? Who wants a fantastically built reliable vehicle anyway? I for one have no confidence in an automaker that does not survive solely on the American (and Canadian) taxpayer.
Love the picture!
Is that Ayumi Hamasaki??