The Homa Files

Punch line: By maintaining the quirky persona of its brand and keeping prices low, Subaru has quietly, but aggressively, increased growth … even through the recession.

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Excerpted from: Bloomberg Business Week, At Subaru, Sharing the Love Is a Market Strategy, May 20, 2010

While much of the U.S. auto business is just beginning to emerge from retrenchment mode, sales at Subaru are climbing.

“Our customers were not affected by the recession … They have a better financial situation.”

By courting financially solid buyers with a taste for the quirky, has grown steadily and, for the first time, its unit sales exceed those of such better-known brands as BMW, Lexus, Mazda, and Volkswagen.

Subaru has long been popular with a core of professorial drivers in tweed in the Northeast and flannel-clad outdoor enthusiasts in the Northwest. Lately, however, the carmaker has been aggressively moving beyond the snowy, soggy, and mountainous regions that are its stronghold.

Subaru’s secret is that it understands the customers who drive its cars and has gotten smarter and more aggressive about reaching out to new ones who would feel at home as part of that clan.

• The average household income of a Subaru owner is $88,000, the same as Honda Motor and $10,000 more than Toyota.
• Subaru buyers are three years younger than the industry average and a quarter more likely to have a college degree.
• They are a thrifty lot, traditionally buying less car than they can afford. Some 36 percent pay cash.

Much of the automaker’s marketing focuses on cementing its connection to customers.

• Subaru’s research shows them to be an eco-friendly bunch who value the freedom to go where they want, when they want.
• Subaru supports causes such as the American Canoe Assn. and the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics. Unlike luxury car buyers, Subaruers are “customers who are not buying things, but experiences.”
• “In their marketing they’ve been focusing on what creates love between the owner and the automobile.”
• “They are basically adding people who are Subaru buyers in their hearts, but don’t know it.”

The bottom line: By maintaining the quirky persona of its brand and keeping prices low, Subaru has quietly, but aggressively, increased growth.

Full article:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_22/b4180018655478.htm

This entry was posted on June 24, 2010 at 6:37 am and is filed under Autos - Travel, Mktg - Brands. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.