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Subaru reveals WRX STI racecar for 24 Hours of N"urburgring [w/video]

Subaru has announced that it will be running a race-spec version of the upcoming WRX STI in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring in June. The 2014 race will mark the seventh year in a row that Subaru has campaigned a car at the day-long Ring race, but this will be the first race outing for the new WRX STI, which isn't set to debut until next week at the Detroit Auto Show.
Subaru will be in the SP3T class, for turbocharged engines displacing 1.75 to 2.0 liters, and is targeting its third class win, after finishing second last year. To do that, it'll be going toe-to-toe with racing versions of cars from Audi, Volkswagen and Seat.
The team will be led by Hideharu Tatsumi, who was responsible for last year's team. Drivers will include Toshihiro Yoshida and Kouta Sasaki, while another pair of European drivers will be announced at a later date.

Should Subaru have a premium brand?

A lot of people love Subarus, and that audience is only getting bigger. Subaru sold 647,956 vehicles in the U.S. in 2017, up from 615,132 units in 2016; 513,693 in 2012; and 187,699 in 2008. You get the idea. It's a relatively small brand, but a growing one. It's also one of the top brands in terms of customer loyalty, and in terms of conquest sales. From Q2 2015 to Q2 2016, Subaru gained 3.5 customers from other brands for every customer it lost. Recently, Riley, a listener to the Autoblog Podcast, wrote in and asked why Subaru doesn't have a luxury brand. Reading the email, neurons began firing immediately, and a whole bunch of new thoughts rushed in at once, mingling with old data in my brain. Indeed, why doesn't Subaru have its own luxury brand? My initial conclusion was that it just didn't make sense for the brand. It's too small of a company to warrant another brand. The higher-end offerings — namely top-trim Ascents — are probably the ceiling at the moment. If those can sell consistently, then maybe it would be time to toy with luxury-leaning models the way Hyundai did before spinning off Genesis (and perhaps adopt a wait-and-see attitude with regard to that potential competitor.) A luxury brand might dilute the value of Subaru's mainstream offerings, giving it the look of a budget brand, but luxury models within the brand could do the opposite. ... Unless ... What if Subaru's luxury brand was all electrified? Subaru is a company that is genuinely concerned with sustainability and environmental issues. Famously, its factories are zero-landfill facilities, and the company takes part in a multitude of environmental initiatives both on its own and with various partners. This mirrors the values of a large part of Subaru's customer base, who have earned a reputation as outdoor adventurers who love nature — and dogs. It's no surprise to see Subaru overrepresented on the roads of Denver, Portland, Ore., and Burlington, Vt. Subaru doesn't offer any plug-in models yet, but they're in the works. As of now, we can expect them to be based on current nameplates. What if Subaru gave its upcoming Crosstrek PHEV the luxury treatment and a new brand name ("Pleiades" would be the easy grab). Sure, Subaru retains customers really well already, but what happens when people outgrow Subaru? At least they have the option of the Ascent, but I'm interested to see how many Subaru owners move on to luxury brands (I'm in the process of finding those answers).

Mazda CX-5 named Japan's Car of The Year, Subaru BR-Z wins "Special Award"

The Mazda CX-5 stamped its Kodo design and SkyActiv technology authority all over the Japan Car of the Year awards, taking the top prize ahead of the Subaru BRZ/Toyota GT 86. It is Mazda's second victory in the last ten years, the 2005 MX-5 claiming the same trophy, and the fourth time the Hiroshima company has won.
The award is decided by 60 local "automotive experts and journalists," and open to any passenger car released in Japan from November 1, 2011 to October 31, 2012 that has sold more than 500 units. Each judge gets 25 votes, his or her top vote getting 10 points, the rest of the points being spread among the judge's choice for the next best four cars.
The second-place getters were the Toyobaru twins with 318 votes, the surprise being they didn't beat or get any closer to the crossover. The Subaru BRZ did claw some mojo back, earning the Special Award given to cars that have made "an exceptional impact." The BMW 3 Series was third overall and won the Import Car of the Year award with plenty of room between it and the second place Range Rover Evoque.