on 2040-cars

Auto blog

How Subaru saved itself by marketing to the gay community

Almost everyone who's in the car community, and even people that aren't, have probably heard the stereotype that lesbians drive Subarus. What you may not realize is that stereotype was fostered by Subaru, and it helped make the company relevant again in the '90s. This is the story told by NPR's Planet Money podcast. Apparently, as the company was trying to figure out who was buying its cars, the marketing folks discovered that gay and lesbian people were a large segment – along with all those outdoorsy types. The discovery led to subtle advertising directed specifically at what we now refer to as the LGBT community, which in turn led to more sales to gay and lesbian consumers. There were other components to Subaru's sales strategy in the '90s, but this particular campaign was an important part and quite successful. Thanks to that success, today we still have Subaru around building reliable, all-wheel-drive transportation, as well as rally-inspired sport compacts. There are of course many more details, but we don't want to spoil them for you. For the whole story, you need to head over to the Planet Money site and listen in. Related Video: News Source: NPR / Planet MoneyImage Credit: Copyright 2016 Drew Phillips / AOL Marketing/Advertising Read This Subaru lgbt

Subaru BRZ with 362-hp, 2.4-liter V8 is the best thing you'll hear today

Whenever the Subaru BRZ and its Toyota twin are talked about, the conversation inevitably turns to whether they would be even better sports coupes with more power. Since their introduction, rumors have popped up suggesting possibilities like more displacement, turbocharging or even a hybrid setup to increase horsepower, but nothing has come to pass. Japanese tuner Jun Auto has decided on a completely different way to boost performance by chucking the 2.0-liter boxer four-cylinder entirely in place of a beautiful 2.4-liter V8. According to the YouTube description for this clip, the engine is based on two of the 1.2-liter inline four-cylinder units from a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-12R motorcycle. The result is a mill that makes a claimed 362 horsepower and revs to over 11,000 rpm. It also sounds like automotive nirvana. Finished in an eye-catching contrast of bright yellow paint with white wheels and a black wing at the back, the V8 BRZ certainly doesn't hide its performance, either. This video's text is in Japanese, but knowledge of the language isn't necessary to understand what's going on.

2020 Subaru Outback Touring Quick Spin | Balance of power

Driving an Outback in Subaru-crazy Seattle is just about as incognito as one can get. You can further disappear into the Evergreen State background if your Outback is Autumn Green Metallic. And that’s how we blended in for a week in a town where the Outback has been the top-selling vehicle several years, and where Subarus constitute 12% of all vehicles sold (2.5 times the brandÂ’s market share nationwide). A few cars are outselling the Outback so far this year — but that's OK, because one of them is the Subaru Forester. Our disguise for a week was a 2020 Outback Touring, the top trim level, which starts at $38,355 including destination fee. For that sum, which is nearly $12,000 more than a base Outback, you get a quite-nice interior done up in warm Java Brown Nappa Leather, with sunroof, 18-inch black aluminum alloy wheels, satin-chrome side mirrors, body-color door handles, heated steering wheel, and driver-distraction mitigation system. ItÂ’s a handsome package, especially the 11.6-inch Starlink touchscreen built into a monolithic, smooth black glass center stack, though the HVAC controls in particular are a curious mix of analog and digital. And it all rides on a new, stiffer platform — making the Outback inwardly new from the ground up, even though it was outwardly designed to look pretty much like it always has. ItÂ’s a conservative, donÂ’t-mess-with-success design approach that Subaru also used on the new Forester. What you donÂ’t get, at least not on this Outback tester nor the one we drove a few months ago in our first-drive review, is a whole lot of power. Both cars were equipped with SubaruÂ’s base 2.5-liter boxer four-cylinder engine that doesnÂ’t reach its peak 182 horsepower until 5,800 rpm, with peak torque of 176 pound-feet at 4,400 rpm. Curb weight on the Touring is 3,772 pounds. Horsepower is up by a mere seven over last year, torque by two pound-feet. Here in Subaru city, IÂ’ve known Outback owners who praise their car's virtues but almost apologetically slip in a qualifier: A little more power wouldÂ’ve been nice. Subaru has a solution for that — the optional XT engine, a 2.4-liter turbocharged engine putting out a thatÂ’s-more-like-it 260 horsepower and 277 lb-ft of torque. The turbo four takes the place of the 3.6-liter flat-six that was offered through 2019. But the MSRPs for the XT trims are a big step up – $4,300 to go from Limited to Limited XT, $2,350 from Touring to Touring XT – to a total ranging from $35,905 to $40,705.