Toyota outflanks Subaru?

The news that Toyota's 86 has gone on sale in Australia priced below $30,000 should give Subaru much food for thought over the next month and a half.

During the third week of July, Subaru will be launching the BRZ, its twin to the Toyota 86. According to Subaru's National Corporate Affairs Manager, David Rowley, the importer is not discussing pricing with the media before the car's launch. Nor, says Mr Rowley, have Subaru and Toyota discussed among themselves the respective market positions of the two cars.

"Not at all," he told motoring.com.au. "We're totally separate entities in Australia. What they do is their business, but basically the production of BRZ has started in Japan and our launch is scheduled for week three in July. We'll be revealing our lineup then — the specification and the pricing. And until then we won't be saying anything else."

So we're none the wiser; was Subaru (distributed in Australia by Inchcape) caught napping by the sharp pricing of the 86 when it was announced? Subaru probably could have second-guessed that Toyota might kick off at such a low price. But it seems very unlikely that Subaru could have been aware of Toyota's detailed pricing strategy for the 86, for two reasons. Firstly, even Toyota's own dealers were kept in the dark, according to rumours that have reached our ears. Secondly, Subaru and Toyota collaborating on prices would almost certainly draw the wrong sort of attention from the ACCC.

Since Inchcape is a private distributor appointed by the factory, it presumably won't be handed any discounts to combat the Toyota rival, despite both the 86 and the BRZ being built in Subaru's factory at Gunma, north-west of Tokyo. That's probably irrelevant however, since Subaru in Australia faces the same shortage of supply that Toyota does. Subaru dealers here have been instructed not to take any further orders, according to Mr Rowley.

"We are no longer taking deposits on the car, because of the potential supply issues. So in other words, we're not taking any more pre-orders, because we obviously don't want to cause frustration for people who want to get a car ASAP. And it's true that we will be supply-constrained in the first few months at least."

So Subaru's allocation of BRZ for the first few months has been sold, irrespective of  how it compares with the 86 for price.

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