2006 Subaru Impreza Wrx Sedan 4-door 2.5l on 2040-cars

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Subaru and Honda set all-time single-month U.S. sales records in August

While the U.S. and Japan continue to hash out the details for a new trade deal, American customers showed just how much they love Japanese automobiles. Both Honda America and Subaru of America exceeded expectations in August and set all-time sales records for units moved in a single month. The booming business was led, in part, by the Honda CR-V and Subaru Crosstrek, both of which posted their best sales months ever.  For Subaru, August 2019 marked the best sales month in company history and a claimed 93 straight months of yearly, month-over-month growth. Subaru sold 70,039 vehicles, which beats the December 2018 record of 64,541 vehicles. Top sellers were the Outback (17,110), the Forester (17,076), and the Crosstrek (15,860). The Ascent notably saw a 72.8 percent increase in sales compared to August 2018 with 7,319 sold.  Honda America, which includes Honda and Acura, sold 173,993 total vehicles, 158,804 of which were Hondas. That's up from 147,903 total sales in August 2018. Honda achieved these numbers with strong sales across its lineup, despite the less consumer interest in sedans in general. In August 2019, Honda sold 44,235 CR-Vs (the most ever in a single month) 14,381 Pilots, 10,190 Odysseys, 34,808 Civics, and 30,558 Accords. Acura's SUVs continue to be the company's best-sellers with 5,976 MDXs sold and 5,459 RDXs moved.  By the Numbers Earnings/Financials Honda Subaru Car Buying Crossover Sedan sales subaru crosstrek

Consumer Reports says Toyota, Ford, Honda and Chevy are big winners in brand perception survey

According to Consumer Reports, the automotive brands that stand out in the minds of car buyers are, in order: Toyota, Ford, Honda and Chevrolet. This news comes after the magazine polled its readers, asking them to take into account vehicle quality, safety, performance, value, fuel economy, design/style, and technology/innovation - which are the factors that car shoppers are most influenced by.
It's important to note that this award is only about perception. In other words, it's perceived quality, not actual quality. "Often, perception can be a trailing indicator, reflecting years of good or bad performance in a category, and it can also be influenced by headlines in the media," said Jeff Bartlett, Consumer Reports deputy automotive editor.
The brand that made the biggest jump in perception amongst Consumer Reports readers is Tesla, which posted an impressive 47-point gain to finish in fifth place. Subaru is also notable for finishing in the top 10, despite being one of the smaller manufacturers doing business in the US. Scroll down below for all the details from Consumer Reports, if you're so inclined.

J.D. Power dependability survey is out, but you shouldn't depend on it

J.D. Power has just released its latest automotive dependability survey, which of course has usual suspects Buick and Lexus ranking high. Those are safe and solid findings, surely. But when you look a little closer, there are curiosities. Our Consumer Editor, Jeremy Korzeniewski, offered an explanation a couple of years back for why this survey should be viewed with a degree of skepticism, and his take is worth a re-read. What jumped out at Jeremy were the relatively low spots assigned to Mazda, Subaru and Scion among the ranking of makes. Back in 2016 when he wrote his piece, they were ranked 21st, 23rd and 24th respectively. In this year's survey, Mazda ranks 15th and Subaru 26th, both below the industry average of 142 reported problems per 100 vehicles. (And Scion, of course, is in car-brand heaven.) Now, part of what is going on here is surely the fact that all automotive brands are producing dependable vehicles compared with years gone by, so the degree of variance between the best and worst on the list is not as great as it once was. "For the most part, automotive manufacturers continue to meet consumers' vehicle dependability expectations," Dave Sargent, a J.D. Power vice president, said in a statement. "A 9 percent improvement is extremely impressive, and vehicle dependability is, without question, at its best level ever." That said, when a brand like Subaru, regarded by many as mechanically bulletproof, ranks 26th, it leaves people who know cars scratching their heads. Something there does not compute. The problem, as Jeremy pointed out, is one of methodology: When he wrote his piece, there was no weighting assigned to the problems reported in the survey. And that still appears to be the case. Therefore, a problem with an infotainment system or a loose piece of trim is deemed as serious as a blown engine or leaky transmission. (And yes, infotainment is still the biggest problem across the board.) Jeremy's point: If the categories of problems were weighted, you'd see a different picture. When you look at the Consumer Reports brand rankings (subscription required), you get a very different picture. in CR's rankings, Subaru is No. 6 among brands, which, well, sounds a lot more like it. CR singles out the redesigned 2017 Impreza as a car with some new-model problems. (The BRZ had the fewest.) The two surveys jibe a little more closely when it comes to Mazda, which CR ranks 12th, a drop of six places from previous-year rankings.