Subaru whips Impreza into shape with leather
BY RON HAMMERTON | 10th Mar 2010
While Subaru is enjoying impressive customer support for its new Liberty and Outback – up 90 per cent and 133 per cent respectively this year compared with the first two months of 2009 – Impreza has been unable to keep pace with its newly-refreshed stablemates, selling 716 units last month compared with 1201 in February 2009.
The company has reacted by announcing a special-edition version of its Impreza R entry-level sedan and hatch, adding black leather upholstery for a $500 premium over the standard Impreza R price.
Subaru has ordered up 1000 of the limited-edition Imprezas to go on sale in April at $24,490 driveaway for the five-speed manual and $26,490 driveaway for the four-speed automatic.
And if leather is not your bag, Subaru has also announced a reduced driveaway price for standard cloth-seat Impreza R manual sedan and hatch, down $1000 to $23,990.
The current Impreza range, which was introduced in five-door hatchback form in September 2007 and reinforced with the arrival of the sedan in a year later, is set to get a new variant, the high-riding off-road XV hatch, later this year.
The pumped up Impreza XV, which was revealed at the recent Geneva motor show, will come with a unique grille and interior trim, as well as the standard all-wheel-drive system and 2.0-litre four-cylinder boxer petrol engine found in the local Impreza R, RX and RS.
This year, the Impreza is one of 20 small-car models in a field of 27 to lose ground in the sales race in Australia, with segment leaders – the Hyundai i30, Toyota Corolla, Mazda3, Mitsubishi Lancer and Holden Cruze – making gains at the expense of smaller players.
Overall Subaru sales, however, are up 11.3 per cent year to date, and despite a slight decrease in market share, down from 4.3 per cent last year to 4.2 this year, it has now edged ahead of Honda into eighth place on the best-sellers’ list.
