The company does not sugarcoat the situation and admits that last year’s figures were “insane.”
The coronavirus epidemic, which struck in 2020, was bad for almost all automakers. It was especially devastating for Subaru’s European division. Subie doesn’t sugarcoat the facts, even though automakers take great care in choosing the right words to describe a poor year for sales.
Interview with
Autocar Subaru’s UK operations manager admitted that 2020 was a “ridiculous year” with “insane sales numbers on the Old Continent. John Hurtig explained that COVID-19 was the reason for low demand and that lockdowns had an adverse impact on customer demand. Another reason why sales last year were so low is Subaru’s decision at the end to pre-register many cars, before stricter emission regulations by the European Union in Jan 2020.
Pre-registering cars in December 2019 was made to avoid fines for high fleet-average CO 2 emissions. Hurtig explained that these vehicles were sold last season at a discount as preregistered vehicles. This means that the profit margins suffered. Last year, Subaru delivered only 951 cars in the UK. This is a drop of more than 68% compared to 2019.
Subaru missed out on more sales opportunities because it was not as active online than its rivals. After a reorganization of the management team, the situation has improved and is now looking brighter. Europe will soon see the latest version of the Outback, Forester and XV. This should hopefully help to revive sales. The second-generation BRZ sports car was not an option for Euro land.
Hurtig stated that despite 2020 being a disaster, Subaru remains committed to Europe and is optimistic about the future. The company has good reasons to focus on the future and forget about 2020. Subaru is considered a “niche producer” in Europe. It does not need to meet the strictest CO 2 standards set by the European Union.