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  #1  
Old 10-22-2013, 09:47 PM
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Rumormill: Subaru planning to revive the SVX

we all know how this turned out.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/13/r...-version-of-s/
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Last edited by SVX92-97; 10-22-2013 at 09:50 PM. Reason: edit
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  #2  
Old 10-23-2013, 07:59 AM
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Re: Rumormill: Subaru planning to revive the SVX

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Originally Posted by SVX92-97 View Post
interesting. i don't think people were willing to spend big bucks on a Subaru back in the 90's, though. look at Kia and Hyundai - considered (were) junk at first, now selling cars over $40k.
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  #3  
Old 10-23-2013, 08:57 AM
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Re: Rumormill: Subaru planning to revive the SVX

When I bought my 92 left over SVX in 1993 it was sitting in the show room next to a loaded legacy turbo , Legacy $16,000 the SVX $ 26,000. Many people walked right by it. Who would buy a Subaru for $5,000 less than a Corvette? No hype on the TV , no big AD's . My dealer had 4 1992's on the lot at the time and the new 93 we out already.
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  #4  
Old 10-23-2013, 10:02 AM
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Re: Rumormill: Subaru planning to revive the SVX

The SVX was doomed from the start, Subaru became part of a brief, turbulent marriage between a recession-plagued auto company and the aggressively hip ad agency, Weiden and Kennedy (whose creative director despised cars)

Subaru’s almost unbelievably bad advertising tagline, “Inexpensive, and built to stay that way”, wasn’t a bad way to sell extremely cheap cars, but as the rising yen pushed prices through the roof, Subaru decided to reinvent itself as a “desire” brand. Their subsequent choice of the Nike “Just Do It” creators, Wieden and Kennedy, and the “What To Drive” campaign that follows, was disastrous for Subaru.

Time and again, Subaru revealed itself to be the most hilariously incompetent of Japanese automakers. At one point, a Japanese designer proudly showed a visiting Subaru of America delegation the interior of the new XT, noting that he put in checkerboard seat fabric “for the American dude.”

Caught between the bumbling Japanese and the insane “creatives” were the Subaru dealers, many of them were hucksters and confidence men who couldn’t get a Toyota dealership in the Seventies. Their simplest desires are repeatedly frustrated.

They wanted more no-equipment sedans; Subaru gave them the SVX.

They wanted regional advertising to move cars before summer set in; Subaru spent the money on a magazine ad campaign for which they are later forced to apologize to everybody from MADD to the NHTSA. In fact, the NHTSA had new regulations against glorifying speed and performance in any TV commercials or print ads.

Another reason for the campaign's failure was economic. In 1991, car sales were at their lowest in eight years and overall advertising spending declined for the first time in 30 years. The car that had once considered marketing itself as "the official car of the recession" (one of W &K's many rejected ideas) foundered on the shoals of a bad economy.


Read excerpts from "Where the Suckers Moon" for more more about the SVX. I highly recommend this book

http://books..com/books?id=OzO614gdZc4C&pg=PA226&lpg=PA226&dq=where+ the+suckers+moon+svx&source=bl&ots=u8A2I-IyL2&sig=AtXzG4dy-mgSGgWmFGmSUQDZgv4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KulnUrqMIO-CyAH59YGQAw&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=where%20th e%20suckers%20moon%20svx&f=false


Just think how different the outcome would be if you could have promoted the SVX in the same way that the WRX, STi, World Rally Team coverage and the Ken Block videos were promoted.

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R.I.P. 2010 Subaru Outback Limited 2.5 CVT...338,000 miles. Totaled by a 1,300 lb. COW March 4, 2016

2014 Hyundai Avante Limited ...178,000 miles. Actually quieter and smoother than the Outback

2007 Mazda Miata MX-5 PRHT...102,000 miles.
Plenty of parts, service and windshields.


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Last edited by svxcess; 10-23-2013 at 10:15 AM.
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  #5  
Old 10-23-2013, 10:13 AM
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Re: Rumormill: Subaru planning to revive the SVX

On a related note, here are some lines from the print ads for Subaru's 1991 lineup:
.

''In bumper-to-bumper traffic, the Subaru Legacy goes just as fast as a much more expensive car.


''A car won't make you prettier. Or younger. And if it improves your standing with the neighbors, then you live among snobs with distorted values.

''You can drive the new Subaru SVX so fast you'll get so many tickets you'll lose your license.''


(The NHTSA and other traffic safety groups failed to see the humor in that last one. They accused Subaru of encouraging people to drive too fast in the SVX, which has a top speed around 140 mph. They forced the ad to be changed to say "you'll be able to drive as fast as any speed limit allows")


Charles A. Hurley, vice president with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Washington, said Subaru should be ''ashamed of itself.'' Brian O'Neill, the institute's president, wrote Masahara Masamitsu, the vice chairman of Subaru, and demanded him to withdraw the ads.

O'Neill said he was ''concerned that the parody would be too easily overlooked while the bold headlines touting the thrill of high-speed driving would be all too easy to heed.''

Christopher B. Wackman, Subaru's vice president of advertising, said he was astounded at the reaction, since the lose-your-license ad was intended to parody typical performance-car ads. Wackman said traditional sports car ads seem to assume drivers live on the ''far side of the moon'' and can drive without regard for traffic or speed limits.

The Subaru ad said, ''We really don't think speed is all that important. After all, most of the time you're stuck in traffic, and anyway it's stupid, dangerous and a waste of precious fossil fuels to be breaking speed limits.''

The new ads were part of Subaru's continuing effort to make people forget the first half of its old tag line, ''Inexpensive, and built to stay that way,'' which doesn't fit as well as it used to.

The SVX, for instance, began at $25,000.

Wackman said.''We lived with a tag line for a long time that was very restricting,''

He also said Subaru, like other companies, was trying to advertise its price-value relationship, not price alone.


WE now return you to the original discussion. Even if Subaru brought back the SVX at twice the price, it has a lot more competition today than ever... think 2014 Stingray for example.

.
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1996 Polo Green LSi #216..138,100 miles...SOLD

JFICX8659TH100216.....Date of Manufacture: November 16, 1995.....
Fuji Heavy Industries..Ōta North Plant....Ōta City,. Gunma Prefecture, Japan

In-Service Date: January 2, 1997



"The Pristine Green Polo Machine”
First Polo Green on the Network
First Clear front turn signals, JDM Alcyone hood emblem, rear panel, and BOXER engine cover on the Network (US) (2000)
First 5000K HID factory fog lights (2007)
First SVX JDM BBS wheels on a USDM SVX (2013)

HID lighting (5000K) for headlight and H3 fog lights, PIAA SuperExtreme 120W high beams, rebuilt EG33 longblock, Cometic head gaskets, Phase II flexplate, AMR aluminum radiator with custom silicone hoses, 160A high-output alternator in aluminum-ceramic coated case, new design alternator wiring upgrade v.4, rare factory headlight protectors, refinished JDM BBS mesh aluminum wheels and custom, polished billet aluminum new hex center caps, LED grille mod, R1 Concepts high-carbon cryo slotted rotors, Akebono ceramic pads, Goodridge S/S braided brake lines, Smallcar Stage 1 shift kit, ThermalTech aluminum/ceramic-coated valve covers, Energy Suspension urethane front & rear swaybar bushings, Bontrager22 rear swaybar with QS Components Chromoly Teflon/Kevlar endlinks, "$15.00/5 minute" suspension mod. Hella Supertone horns, Custom stainless steel exhaust system with 2" headpipes, Magnaflow cats, AeroTurbine AR25 resonator /AWD "Bullet" muffler.


R.I.P. 2010 Subaru Outback Limited 2.5 CVT...338,000 miles. Totaled by a 1,300 lb. COW March 4, 2016

2014 Hyundai Avante Limited ...178,000 miles. Actually quieter and smoother than the Outback

2007 Mazda Miata MX-5 PRHT...102,000 miles.
Plenty of parts, service and windshields.


4th Registered Network member —2/21/2001

My NEW locker..I...My Email..I..Wikipedia/SVX .

.

Last edited by svxcess; 10-23-2013 at 10:20 AM.
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  #6  
Old 10-24-2013, 06:08 AM
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Re: Rumormill: Subaru planning to revive the SVX

While the somewhat ridiculous origins of the XT and SVX are very interesting to read in the Suckers book, I enjoyed the origins of Subaru of America - especially the bit about how much of a shyster Malcolm Bricklin was!
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  #7  
Old 10-24-2013, 06:27 AM
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Re: Rumormill: Subaru planning to revive the SVX

Quote:
Originally Posted by Conn SVX View Post
Who would buy a Subaru for $5,000 less than a Corvette?
When I first saw or read about the SVX in 91/92 my first thought wow it's a Subaru maybe I can afford that! When I found out the price this above was exactly what I thought, that's Corvette kind of money.
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