There is nothing worse for a shiny new car than to sit in the showroom like a wallflower at a junior high school dance. Fortunately for the rear wheel drive Subaru BRZ it seems to be the pick of the crop because it spends less time in American showrooms than any car. At least for the May 2012 sales month. This news comes in from a report from Edmunds. They tracked the days from when vehicles arrive at the dealership and then are sold. This is called a churn rate. The Subaru BRZ was just released to consumers in May, which could be part of the reason they seemed to be flying out of the car lots as quickly as they could be brought in.
Subaru and Toyota are especially pleased with the sales rates. The Toyota Scion FR-S is moving almost as quickly as the Subaru BRZ. These sales rates are four times higher than what the Japanese automakers were originally projecting, especially in the Japanese sales demographic.
Michael McHale, a spokesman for Subaru of America, was quoted as saying, “The BRZ being rear-wheel drive, we made a conservative production request. We pegged our allotment roughly to sales of the WRX,” he said, referencing the brand’s rally-oriented all-wheel-drive sports car. That conservative approach has led to gripes from every market where the BRZ would be sold. “There are only so many that can be built in the year, and if you want more, you have to take from another market,” Mr. McHale added. “And nobody wants to give up their allocation.”
It generally takes dealers about 53 days to sell a showroom model. The Subaru BRZ is selling in just four days and the Toyota Scion FR-S is selling in five days. It looks as if both automakers will need to rethink their strategy and produce more cars as the supply is going much quicker than the demand can accommodate.
Source The New York Times