Subaru seeking more BRZs

SUBARU Australia has asked its Japanese head office for more rear-drive BRZ sportscars to meet demand, after receiving 400 orders in the first week.

Although Australia is one of the Japanese company’s strongest foreign markets, the local company faces an uphill battle to get more stock as Subaru distributors around the world face the same dilemma.

Subaru Australia national corporate affairs manager David Rowley said that, with forward orders for the BRZ already out to February next year, negotiations with parent company Fuji Heavy Industries about increasing supply were “ongoing”.

“We are having discussions with the factory about the future,” he said.

“We are always looking for more, but there is very strong demand for the car worldwide so we have to be realistic.”Mr Rowley said Subaru Australia was not content for demand to exceed supply to make the car more exclusive.

“We’d love to have enough supply to meet the demand right now,” he said.

Subaru is no longer quoting running tallies of BRZ sales or waiting lists, and its BRZ website – the only place a car can be ordered until at least the end of this year – now simply quotes six-plus months for every model variant and colour.

Consistent with this estimate, Mr Rowley said the order books were now full to the end of February.

Last week, the small 2012 allocation of 201 BRZs – including 91 demonstrators and pre-orders – was sold within 24 hours of officially going on sale, and the increased January allocation was sold within days.

Subaru Australia told GoAuto last week that 2013 allocation would amount to 500 to 600 units, or 40-50 a month.

With the company this week advising that it is holding around 400 paid-up orders, it would suggest the waiting list has pushed out even further than quoted, to around May next year.

Toyota Australia has also been flooded with orders for its almost-identical 86, especially the highly specified GTS variant.

Even with an allocation of 1500 cars this year and 2000 next year, Toyota is quoting a wait of up to three months for the entry-level GT model and 18 months for the GTS, which takes delivery of the top model out to 2014.