Subaru Impreza 2008
The Problem with Subaru is that the that the image of the standard Impreza as a mainstream car has been totally overshadowed by the performance of the WRX and WRX STi.
As a brand, Subaru is already individualistic and quirky enough without having the overall image of the product distorted so that the brand becomes almost totally dominated by the extreme performance reputation of the sportier versions.
Yet Subaru does build cars which should appeal to the thinking, alternative mainstream buyer – and the emphasis here is on “thinking”. As long as their exhausts point out the back Subarus will never truly compete with the other major mainstream brands.
You could get rid of the whole ethos of back to front cap wearing hoons sitting so low in their WRXs that they can barely see over the top of the dash, with sewer-sized exhaust pipes pounding a deafening beat and you’d still not have a really mainstream car.
To do that you’d need to get rid of the all wheel drive systems, shove a conventional inline four under the bonnet, consign the word “turbo” to a dark corner for dirty words and bring in designers from a refrigerator factory.
I am an unequivocal Subaru fan. I admire their individuality, lack of convention and their quirkiness. Their success has been created on the back of the cult that has grown up around their performance models. But now that success has trapped them and restricted the appeal that they may have had if a wider audience.