Subaru is about to create history Down Under. In an unprecedented move, its new joint-venture BRZ sports coupe will only be offered for sale online.
The sistership of the Toyota 86, the BRZ arrives Down Under in one specification level only and will be priced at $37,150 driveaway for the six-speed manual variant. The six-speed auto is priced at $39,730 driveaway.
Sales commence online at subaru.com.au at midday this Monday, July 16.
Only a limited number of demo BRZs will be allocated to dealers. It is not clear whether these will be offered for showroom sales later.
“Our online initiative offers a fantastic level of transparency for BRZ customers, which is in line with our All 4 the Driver customer commitment," Subaru Australia boss, Nick Senior stated via the company's press office yesterday.
“They will know exactly what the price is going to be and vehicle availability. They can choose their delivering dealership and can even arrange a trade-in valuation. This may well be a world first in terms of being able to complete the entire new car purchase process online,” he stated.
Purchasers will choose a Subaru dealer from which to take delivery of their BRZ. The driveway price includes free scheduled servicing for three years/60,000km.
Subaru says it will review the exclusive online direct sales process in the first quarter of 2013. This coincides with the availability of a consequent production run of BRZs for local consumption.
Mr Seniors says low initial BRZ volumes inspired the online only sales process.
“We knew that we wouldn’t have sufficient BRZs to supply our entire network immediately following the launch... Customers can arrange test drives via subaru.com.au and also select their preferred delivering dealer," Senior said.
The initiative also offers online options to obtain a trade-in valuation, insurance and finance. Subaru has appointed dedicated customer support resource to facilitate the online purchasing process.
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