Subaru makes bid to compete in premium car segment

Japanese automaker Subaru is making an aggressive bid to compete in the Philippine premium car segment currently dominated by BMW and the likes of Audi.

In its formal relaunching yesterday, Motor Image Pte. Ltd., group chief executive Glenn Tan and Kei Ono, general manager Asia-Pacific Sales and Marketing Deparment Subaru Overseas Sales and Marketing Division, unveiled Subaru’s initial line-up comprising the sedan Legacy, sports utility vehicle Forester, station wagon Outback and Impreza.

Motor Image Pte. Ltd., is the exclusive distributor of Subaru vehicles. It’s wholly-owned subsidiary in the Philippines is Motor Image Pilipinas, Inc.

According to Tan, although the Subaru brand is already well-established in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, it is still making in-roads in the Philippines and China.

Thus, Tan said, Subaru is expecting to post strong growth in the Philippines and China.

From its initial line-up, Tan said, Subaru is expecting to sell around 150 units for the remainder of this year with its best seller being the Forester which retails at around P1.3 million.

Later in the year, Tan said, Subaru would be introducing its Impreza sports variant the WRX STI and a 3 litter variant of the Legacy.

The Impreza WRX carries a price tag of P1.5 million while the Legacy is priced similarly at P1.5 million.

Subaru’s selling point, Tan said, is its all-wheel drive technology found in all its models.

Although Subaru currently has only one dealership at the moment located along EDSA in Greenhills, Motor Image is already scouting for another partner to put up a second dealership in Makati.

Next year, Tan said, Subaru plans to open more dealerships outside of Metro Manila and in the provinces.

Motor Image Pte,Tan said has already invested about $4 million to beef up its operations in the Philippines and is allocating another P15 million for the rest of the year.