SUVs often leads in sales, but sure-footed traction continues to
be a draw for that automaker's smaller cars .
Canada is constantly on the gorge itself in the new-car buffet. In
2015, car sales hit the greatest level ever. With fuel prices continuing to
tumble and rates of interest stagnating, individuals are once again casting
their eyes to larger prey – and also the uptick in sales for SUVs and
crossovers proves it. Over 2014, these were up an eye-popping 13 percent last
year. 
Despite the surge for the beloved trucks and truckettes, Subaru is
banking on the demographic which will appreciate fusing the power and agility
they’re so famous for using the stance and capacity of the sedan. Everything
has an existence cycle; eventually, even crossovers will cede to new things
and, with buyers being ever fickle and oil prices ever volatile, you never know
where the best guess lies?
But the rush towards the crossovers has overshadowed another
perennial, the sedan. Remove the crossovers and SUVs from those sales figures,
and car sales actually dipped two percent. So what does a business like Subaru
do when its offerings within the sedan arena – the compact Impreza and also the
midsize Legacy – 're going head-to-head using their own in-house best-selling
CUVs and SUVs? Well to begin with, the automaker reminds you the Impreza and
also the Legacy complement a really deliberate lineup of vehicles.
A recent excursion north towards the snow belt of Muskoka,
Ontario, was different for the reason that we weren’t inspired to drive
Foresters or Outbacks; instead, it had been the rather more sedate Impreza and
Legacy sedans inviting the icy roads.
Subaru is experiencing a four-year crest of record sales and
product growth. With 91 dealers in Canada, it’s still small businesses, however
with a deeply loyal subscriber base. The source of Subaru’s growth continues to
be taking place on two fronts: loyal owners possessing their vehicles and
keeping resale prices high, as well as the company seeing conquest sales that
capitalize very specifically on the competition’s weaknesses. That’s difficult
to do whenever your competition is the reigning titan, the Honda Civic, still
Canada’s top-selling car.
All the Impreza wants you to definitely do is cross shop on its
merits: a base-level Impreza clicks in at four grand within the Civic ($19,995
vs. $15,990), but delivers all-wheel drive in which the Civic, the Toyota
Corolla and also the Mazda3 don’t. You can also count the environment
conditioning, the reversing camera, the cruise control, the touchscreen and
also the 60/40 folding seats others lack only at that level, but it’s the AWD
which will be the functional key for anybody looking to take action.
When the 2015 Legacy was relaunched, it had been to a public
scratching their heads as though trying to remember when Subaru had even were
built with a player within the sedan segment, regardless of the Legacy being
around for two-and-a-half decades. The 2015 Legacy was well worth the wait: It
wound up as an IIHS Top Safety Pick+, a distinction Subaru is rapidly becoming
famous for, and continued to win AJAC’s 2015 Car from the Year.
Like the Impreza, the Legacy holds court over its closest rivals –
the Honda Accord, the Mazda6 and also the Toyota Camry – using its AWD. Unlike
the Impreza, the bottom Legacy clocks within their price points ($23,495 for
that Legacy; $650-$1,200 more for that rest). The $4,000 premium around the
Impreza might spook some buyers initially, particularly if they don’t perceive
that AWD will add much for their driving needs, however the even playing field
the Legacy has placed itself on is interesting. If fuel costs head back up,
count around the better fuel economy within the smaller sedans to haul a few of
the don’t-really-need-a-crossover crowd back over the line.
Does everyone need AWD? In some areas of Canada, yes. I wouldn’t
took on most from the roads i was slaloming inside a gorgeous Ontario winter
without them. Buyers know their lifestyle.
Subaru includes a learning curve to throw at consumers, for the
reason that many buying in to the crossover boom forget that crossovers may
look rugged and sporty, but aren’t anymore capable of getting you back to the
pavement than every other car. Many people who wind up off the road in not a
trail-rated Jeep exist by accident. They want cars to keep them around the
road, not escort them off. Aside from the BRZ, all Subarus have AWD.
Both the Accord and also the Camry have beautifully appointed
interiors; this is when Honda and Toyota have moved up their game in reaction
to consumer interest in, well, everything. Subaru won’t finish first in fit and
finished – yet – nevertheless its research indicates buyers are searching for
that AWD first of all, in addition to reliability and safety, in front of those
other activities.
Subaru doesn’t need to convince buyers they require a sedan
instead of the crossover or SUV. If you need the additional hauling capacity
for those rigs, you'll need those rigs. No, Subaru instead needs to remind
people who already desire a sedan they offer up AWD inside a country where
that’s an enormous plus – together with reliability, high resale and top safety
picks.