How can it be that Subaru is simultaneously so easy to love and so easy to hate? Under the sheetmetal, the company sells some of the most capable and characterful automotive technology in a market that’s otherwise flooded with bland homogeneity. But then there’s the damn sheetmetal. Subaru has “upgraded” the 2011 WRX with the swollen, anabolic looks of the STI, which might look decent in hatch form, but as a sedan (and like all Impreza sedans since the first generation) it’s just plain unfortunate. If only Subaru had snagged Peter Schreyer before Kia did… [via Autoblog]

Longtime auto observers know there’s a fine line between a clean, subtle design and a boring car. What might come as a surprise is that Subaru is the brand currently exploring the liminal zone between nice and narcoleptic. After all, when was the last time Subaru design was accused of understated elegance bordering on the hopelessly anodyne? But Subaru is already abandoning its rough-and-ready, quirkily-styled roots for Audi-junior positioning, and this Hybrid Tourer Concept captures those aspirations brilliantly. Too bad Subaru’s most pressing design challenge is improving its plastic-fantastic interiors.

Subaru crushed it again this month [via PRNewswire], with the Outback and Forester both breaking 6,000 units of sale and overall sales up 38 percent. Suzuki, not so much [full release here]. Despite a recently-launched (and relatively well-received) C-segment sedan, the Japanese brand managed to sell only 1,375 cars last month. That’s fewer units than the Jeep Compass, and only slightly better than the Dodge Nitro and Buick Lucerne. On their own. Suzuki’s one sick puppy! Details after the jump.

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VW and Audi combined for a hell of a month, with combined sales up 40 percent. The Beetle is back, kind of, but the Jettas still butter the bread at VWOA. At Audi, the A4/A5/Q5 combo combined for two thirds of the brand’s 6,510 January sales. Subaru‘s Impreza and Forester are a down a bit from their big 2009 numbers, but the new Legacy/Outback duo were up over 100 percent. Mercedes had a strong January across the board, with only the tired SLK, CLK, CL and CLS failing to grow sales. Also, 156 people bought an R-Class this month.

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With all precincts reporting, Subaru officially takes second place in the 2009 annual sales increase sweepstakes, with a 15 percent annual increase. That achievement was bested only by Jaguar Land Rover, which finished the year up 65 percent with 38,261 units sold. Only Hyundai improved its volume more than Subaru last year, up 56,852 compared to Subies 28,953 increase. Still, Subaru was clearly an up-and-comer this year, shrugging off industrywide declines for one of the best all-round sales performances since the beginning of the so-called Carmageddon. And the momentum seems to be going strong, as Subaru closed the year with a 33 percent increase in December and 23,074 units sold. And to think it all started with the 360, a car that made the VW Beetle look, sound and perform like a freaking Bentley.
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TTAC Commentator NICKNICK writes:

Mr. Mehta, my 1999 Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT often loses power in the first hundred yards of driving. It has never failed to start, and it has never stalled during the period of power loss. It does not matter if the car is started cold, or if it’s been running for an hour on the highway and restarted after a 3 minute stop for gas. When it loses power, it doesn’t lose ALL power—it feels like it has about as much power as it would idling in gear. Flooring the accelerator does nothing…until it does, at which point it wants to break ya neck. This happens about 80% of the time. If I catch it starting to get fussy, I disengage the clutch and wait three seconds. The problem time passes while I coast, and I can be on my way without any more trouble. The other 20% of the time is trouble-free like a normal car. After the first hundred yards it runs great, sounds great, and gets great gas mileage.

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Subaru wasn’t the only automaker who bucked the misery in 2009, but it was one of the most consistent sales performers month after month. As a longtime Subaru aficionado, my initial diagnosis was that Subaru moved upmarket just as its brand equity was peaking. The brand’s new, flashier interiors, along with upsized redesigns of the Forester and Outback may not have been my cup of 30-weight, but they put the brand on more shopping lists among the automotive mainstream. That’s at least part of the message of Automotive News [sub]’s dissection of Subaru’s strong year, as Subie insiders reveal that more tech toys, better rear legroom and more “sophistication” were important in making Subaru products live up to the inherent “premium-ness” of their AWD platforms.
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In a delightfully surreal bit of news out of India, a man sued GM for claiming one of its SUVs had mountain goat-like capabilities when it couldn’t in fact navigate one foot-deep water. What, you might ask, is the SUV in question? The answer is just another amusing twist to this hilarious tale of marketing claims meeting cold, wet reality. Here’s a hint: it’s sold in the US, but not as a Chevrolet…

Here in the Pacific Northwest, the Subaru Outback has long been one of the most ubiquitous cars on the road. From soccer moms to weed dealers to weed-dealing soccer moms, drizzle-belt car buyers bought the jacked-up AWD wagons in droves, presaging the modern mass-market craze for all things crossover. But in the transition from rough-and-ready station wagon to mainstream crossover, the latest Outback seems to have lost the magic that made it the vehicle of choice for Northwest families looking to retire the old Volvo wagon.

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