From any angle, MEH!
This past Sunday, before I hit the gym, I noticed a totally unremarkable blob of whiteness turning into the same supermarket parking lot that I was entering. My CC alarm started to ping. Could this be, was it possible that this might be, a veritable CC sighting? I ran down my checklist. Rare? Thankfully, even in Utah. Bereft of any Car Guy (and Gal, Gem & Jana) interest whatsoever? Totally. CC serendipity? You betchum.
Perfect! Four plastic hubcaps would have been a bit unbelievable.
The Justy 5-door was sold in the US from 1992 through 1994. It had a 1.2 liter, port-fuel injected, inline three based on the Suzuki G10. “AWD” also indicates that this Justy had a unique (within the company’s line-up) transverse-engined on-demand 4-wheel drive system, dinstinct from their now-relabeled “Symmetrical All Wheel Drive,” the full-time all wheel drive systems that Subaru introduced in 1988 and made standard throughout on all the vehicles that it sold in the US starting in 1997. This was part of Subaru’s reinventing itself.
It didn’t have much of a choice. Sales were in the crapper, and Justy sales (2444 units during eight months in 1992) barely registered in the US marketplace (nor did the Legacy, for all intents and purposes). Subaru sales for all models had fallen from a high 183,242 units in 1986 to 100,619 units in 1994. Subaru had to focus and had to differentiate itself from the Toyotas, Nissans and Hondas of this world. AWD was the key.
Not exactly ugly, but not Cheryl Tiegs either
In Randall Rothenberg’s “Where The Suckers Moon” 1994 treatise on Subaru of America’s search for a new advertising agency, Wieden & Kennedy, the Portland, OR agency that won the account, determined that Subaru’s reputation in the US was for “cheap and ugly” cars. This was at a time Subaru was trying to elevate its image with the Giugiaro-designed SVX. From 1992 through 1997 this overpriced turd only sold 14,000 units in the US. Didn’t work, largely due to the $28-35,000 price tag. Nor did Wieden & Kennedy’s advertising. Wieden & Kennedy spent most of the 1992 budget on two SVX television ads. When shown to an annual sales meeting with Subaru dealers, one lamented that he didn’t need to move SVXs, he needed to move Legacies whose sales had continued to drop.
Park by Sound?
That’s a far cry from today, be it in a supermarket parking lot or at my gym, at least in Utah. These parking lots could be confused for Nate Wade Subaru (the oldest Subaru dealer in the US) or Mark Miller new car lots. Subaru sold 424,683 cars in the US in 2013.
The driver of the Justy looked to be in a rush and was wearing a tie. This pretty much meant that he and his son were on their way to their local Ward. So I don’t know how many miles were on this thing, or whether it had the CVT or manual transmission.
Although Utah doesn’t use a lot of salt on roads other than I-15 or I-80, this 20-year old Justy would indicate either very low mileage or usage only on local streets.
Once again we have a CC phenomena of Rare, but So What?
(Editor’s note: Fuji gave serious consideration to abandoning the US market in the early nineties. I suspect they’re glad they didn’t. 2015 sales are roaring ahead, up almost 25% over 2013. – PN)
Related reading: Subaru Justy CC (by Dave Saunders) Subaru Justy CC (by PN)
The comeback of Subaru is evidence that we probably didn’t have to lose all the storied brands that have gone over the last dozen years, starting with Plymouth. All had better sales than Subie’s low point, and were attached to companies with far higher total U.S. sales.
I give credit to Subaru, they are the go to brand for AWD this isn’t attached to a 5,000 lb. V-8 powered vehicle.
I disagree. Suzuki benefited from other brands going away. Subaru’s increased sales are the reciprocal of declining sales for brands like Volvo, Mazda and Mitsubishi, plus zeroing out of Saab sales.
Subaru is just about the only automotive purchase left that demonstrates one’s non-conformist cred.
Doubling down on AWD is a major factor, too, though. Just as the Prius is no longer the only viable hybrid option but continues to dominate hybrid sales, people seeking AWD traction in bad weather think Subaru first (an audience that’s distinct from the 4WD offroaders who think Jeep first). Plymouth had no such distinguishing characteristic other than cheapness.
Suzuki benefited? American Suzuki filed Chapter 11 and pulled out of the U.S. market. If you meant Subaru, most of the closed brands – Plymouth, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Mercury, were not usually seen as major competitors of Subaru.
The “declining” brands you mention are also not strong competitors of Subaru, particularly Volvo and Saab that are / were sold as rather pricy luxury cars. Saab’s demise mostly benefited GM’s internal mess – the brand wasn’t even cannibalizing other GM product.
I’m not aware that Mazda is declining – they seem to have a decent product line and their years associated with Ford didn’t gut the brand.
Plymouth had various weaknesses over the years, but at the time of their cancellation they were very strong in minivans – never a cheap purchase. They had also been given the Plymouth Prowler, a halo car that started a not too serious conversation with a friend of mine about buying one to share just for the heck of it. The PT Cruiser was very nearly a Plymouth, and would have put a lot of life back in the brand. As JPC points out a few comments below, product makes the brand, and some smart marketing can make the product stand out.
Sorry: Subaru, not Suzuki.
I saw my share of Subarus when I used to work on refrigeration for the woodlands Inn. More than average percentage of the folks in the woodlands are Yuppies. Haven’t seen a Justy in the country in forever.
If you exclude SOA’s traditional sales strongholds (New England, PNW, and the Mountain West) where they are ubiquitous, Subies do tend to be found in areas where folks can easily afford much more.
That’s the case here in the St. Louis area, where they’re very common in West St. Louis County, the “trendy” neighborhoods of St. Louis City, and the increasingly upscale towns of Edwardsville and Glen Carbon, Illinois. Outside of those areas they’re a bit scarce. Here in Alton, IL (population 27,000) there are maybe 20-25 or so that I regularly see, including my girlfriend’s Forester. There are days when we go out and the only Subaru we see is ours.
I recently saw a statistic that showed that some 40% of new Subaru buyers pay cash for their vehicles, the highest of any non-luxury brand.
“I recently saw a statistic that showed that some 40% of new Subaru buyers pay cash for their vehicles, the highest of any non-luxury brand.”
Bingo! That’s how I paid for mine.
I would echo Dave B. Everyone wants to talk about all kinds of reasons for the weak sales of many car brands, but it all comes down to product, product, product. Another instance of an almost impossible turnaround is the Chrysler brand. In the early 90s, the only people who bought Chryslers were elderly people of below average income who had been driving Newports since the early 60s. Then the Cab Forward cars followed by the current LX cars have completely turned the brand’s image on its head. Chryslers are desirable.
I too remember when Subaru was really losing its reason for being. I wanted to like the early Legacy, but just couldn’t get there. The combination of price and all wheel drive has been huge. And some nicely done styling hasn’t hurt. Great find with this old Justy to remind us of the bad old days for Subaru.
Not sure Chrysler is the success story you think it is. YTD Subaru outsells Chrysler in the U.S. By a lot.
Chrysler sells fewer vehicles in the U.S. than both VW and Mazda, both of which are thought to be failing in the U.S. market. Even Mercedes is selling more cars than Chrysler.
I think Chrysler’s vehicle linup is down to the 300, 200 and Town & Country, which doesn’t help. But is there really more product in the pipeline for the Chrysler brand? Not any time soon.
I guess my main point was that today you can buy a top-line Chrysler and not be embarrassed about it – something that was not always possible.
The Chrysler brand today is effectively what Plymouth used to be.
Part of their problem back then was price. I seriously cross-shopped at a Justy against a Geo Metro and one or two other cars when I was looking for something for my girlfriend at the time. Big problem was that it had a price that was something like 15-20% more expensive than the Metro. Yeah, the AWD added to it, but that wasn’t really all that much of a consideration for her needs at the time. Bottom line, it was no more than a Metro (which we ended up buying, every option possible except for the automatic) at a much higher price.
And, at the time, the Subaru dealer was the sorriest lot in Johnstown. The guy had previously been the British Leyland dealer in town (sold maybe one sports car a month), taking on Subaru because it was the only Japanese marque not covered as the BL ship sank.
He’s still in the same place, but the dealership is spruced up nicely. And he’s certainly being paid back for his patience.
I test drove one of these, probably in 1992. Despite being cheap feeling and having doors even thinner than the doors on a Suzuki Sidekick, with the standard tranny it was fun to toss around. Not fun enough to consider buying, though. Too little car for the money.
I’ve always loved the Subaru Justy while it was on the market. The only thing it didn’t have that I believe it should’ve was Subaru’s famous boxer engine. Other than that, I thought it was an awesome little car. I would’ve bought a Justy myself if I were in the market for a car at the time. 🙂
My favorite Subarus are those of the early ’90s, though it would’ve been nice if they brought their hot models over here back then. They were no longer agricultural after the Legacy and Impreza came out but they were still humble and subdued. And they could finally HANDLE. Their cars still had soft, long travel suspensions but they had great balance and could get their torque to the ground, making them a lot of fun to throw around at lower speeds. A Legacy GT Turbo would be a car I’d seriously consider if I found one in good shape, especially a 1991 version which had a rear LSD.
I should also mention my appreciation of their styling in that era. The frameless glass and low cowl looked good, as did the straight lines. I especially like, as I said, the way the design language came off on the 89-94 Legacy, with fender flares, a lot of chrome and big red taillights. The closest to a JDM luxury sedan we ever got here, and a look that’s appreciated by only a few. “European” styling knockoffs are for the insecure.
Mine too. My favourite were the Legacy wagon and the SVX. That was something else. When Subaru took a Legacy engine and chassis (drivetrain included) and put a sporty body on top of it, and made something sporty and sexy.
We bought a new 90 Legacy wagon, and it was a poor man’s Quattro in SoCal. Pulled an F-150 4×4 outta the mud stuck on Otay Mt, moved us Xcountry to DC, brought both our sons home from the hospital, and was a camper all over the Sierras. Poor MPGs was the only foible, and never needed a head gasket…
And good looking? Yup.
My brother-in-law used to have one of these. It was exactily as shown here. The fun we had in that car rallying icy back road with the all wheel drive. It isn’t fast by any mean but it’s a blast to drive. You always feel to go faster in this thing. 55 mph feel like 65 and over 80 mph it is really scary do drive. I would like to own one of these
All I can say is, “Su-bA-ru, WOW.”
HWAUW!
I read “Where The Suckers Moon” a few months back. You knew SOA was headed for a disaster when they hired Wieden & Kennedy. Not only had WK never done an automotive account, their creative director at the time of the infamous “What To Drive” campaign was a guy who HATED cars. When he moved to Portland from the east coast, he bought a house and immediately had the garage demolished and the driveway broken up and replaced with a garden.
The background stuff on FHI and SOA was particularly interesting, especially where it goes into SOA’s early days under Bricklin and Lamm. It gets a bit laborious to read in places, but I still highly recommend the book.
BTW, it’s now available on Kindle so you won’t have to have your local library try to hunt down the only copy within 200 miles like I did!
I’ve never heard of Wieden and Kennedy. Who are they?
Ever heard of Nike?
Since the bad old Subaru days, W+K did some good work for Chrysler (“Imported from Detroit” and “Halftime in America”) and Honda, including the beloved “Cog” video.
I bought my copy used on Amazon, probably for a buck or so, plus 3.99 shipping. But you are right, it’s not an easy read. Rothenberg’s background as a writer for the New York Times might give a clue to extended periods of ennui, but overall the book is a must-read, especially for Subaru or automotive advertising junkies.
I agree. I read it some years ago because Wieden and Kennedy had such a good reputation and I like cars. What a disaster, but twenty years in this game shows me not a surprise. I don’t think you have to be a car guy to do good car ads, I just think you need to have your head outside of your anus.
Mary Wells Lawrence has some good pages on handling the AMC account in her bio ‘A Big Life in Advertising’. I’d be interested in you pointing me to other good automotive/advertising books, Kevin or Imperialist.
Don-I wish I could recommend more books on automobile advertising, but I can’t. I purchased “From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor: Front-Line Dispatches from the Advertising War” by Jerry Della Femina, read it, and can’t say that I know more about the subject than I do. It was a major disappointment. The book didn’t make my transition from Northern Virginia to Salt Lake a couple of years ago. I don’t know what happened to it.
Della Femina’s book is not much of an insight into the game, but funny. If in doubt… faint.
Thanks Kevin.
There’s one around here still
I owned a 1990 White 4WD 2 door Justy for three years. It was fun to drive and I loved the 4WD especially after our severe winter. The problem was the CVT. The transmission had to be worked on several times before it had to be complete replaced. But I traded it in for a 1993 Impreza which was great…..loved the manual on it.
Ugh, I still remember the commercials for these. “Justy time for Christmas!” was pretty bad.
At the risk of raising hackles, I associate Subarus with homosexual women. No offense intended, I have no issue with alternative lifestyles, but I was told that Subaru spends a lot of their ad budget appealing to gay people. More power to ’em. Nice cars, I do think of them as an Asian SAAB, a little quirky but very competent.
I have no idea about that, but in my area the situation is a little different. Because Subaru has its U.S. plant in Lafayette, Indiana, they are seen quite frequently around here. I was in Lafayette yesterday and started noticing just how many Subies are out and about there. Its like Studes in South Bend or Scouts in Fort Wayne back in the old days.
Since it became knowledge some years back (like over a decade ago) that Subaru was the #1 brand among lesbian buyers, this become a meme, although a rather stale one by now. Folks stopped bringing this up about five to ten years ago, so it’s time to move into the modern world 🙂
Seriously, Subaru’s market base is vastly bigger than that segment. And the portion of the their ad budget that they might possibly be spending in LBGT media is undoubtedly a tiny slice. It’s safe to buy a Subaru now; no one will suspect you.
Plenty of old Justies on the road around here, hardly surprising with more Subarus per head of population than any other country some were bound to survive.