Love For Sale: Subaru Succeeds Where Others Fail

Subaru is far and away the largest-selling brand that has managed a U.S. sales increase this year, despite the severe downturn for the rest of the market.

Granted, it’s a small increase, which has gotten smaller as Subaru sales fell in the last few months, along with most other brands. Nevertheless, through November, Subaru’s U.S. sales in 2008 were up 1.2 percent from the year-ago period, to 170,412, mostly due to the redesigned Forester model.

That thin increase may not survive for the full 12 months of 2008, but it’s a lot better than average, with the U.S. market down 16.3 percent after 11 months, according to AutoData Corp.

Subaru’s success is based on finding a niche and sticking to it. The company learned that the hard way through the mid-1990s, trying to compete head-to-head with giants like Toyota and Honda. Subaru always offered all-wheel-drive cars, but back then the company kept trying to break into big-time sales volumes by offering front-drive cars, too.

Longer-term success came when Subaru opted to stick exclusively to all-wheel drive. That has made it harder for Subaru to break out of the traditional Snowbelt markets where it sells the best, like New England, Colorado and even Alaska, but sticking to all-wheel drive has kept the brand distinct and allowed Subaru to stick to a consistent marketing message, like Volvo with safety, and BMW with “The Ultimate Driving Machine.”

In a recent blog, I wrote that only five brands had higher sales in the month of October than the year-ago month: Audi, Ferrari, Mini, Rolls-Royce and Smart. The list of brands that have improved year to date after 11 months is comparable: Maserati, Mini, Rolls-Royce, Smart and Subaru.

My face is a little red that I overlooked Subaru earlier. In the interest of full disclosure, I’m a Subaru owner – that is, a Subaru lessee — and I’m on my third Subaru. I may have been the only one, but I actually liked the ads that Subaru came up in the early 1990s that said, “A car is just a bucket of bolts.” Other people thought the campaign was so bad, somebody even wrote a book about it, called Where the Suckers Moon. But like that ill-fated ad campaign, I’m unsentimental about cars. I really do think it’s just a bucket of bolts, and the best bucket of bolts should win.

I enjoy driving high-performance cars, but day-to-day, “peppy” is enough performance for me, thank you. I don’t have a lot of self-esteem tied up in my car brand. Maybe that’s reverse snobbery? Anyway, I find the all-wheel drive reassuring for a few weeks out of the year. Not to mention, I need a low monthly lease payment. All those factors make me a good candidate for Subaru. Plus, there’s a big-volume Subaru dealership right down the road, which is not likely to be the case in other parts of the country.

Subaru’s latest marketing campaign, by Minneapolis-based Carmichael Lynch is called, “Share the Love.” Subaru makes a $250 donation to a short list of charities to choose from, in addition of low-cost lease deals.

For me personally, I think the agency’s tagline, “Love. It’s what makes a Subaru a Subaru,” is laying it on thick. I think the lease deals sell a lot more cars than the charitable donations. But everybody who possibly can, has got rebates and lease deals on the market, and only a few brands are doing well. It may not be love, but Subaru does have a strong brand image going for it.