Manual Subaru BRZ is Quite Popular Among Auto Enthusiasts
It would not be an exaggeration to say that admirers of cars with traditional manual transmissions were shocked to know low sales numbers of Toyota manual models, especially the 86 model. It is hard to make positive predictions about the future of manual cars when the car that is supposed to be manual, the 86 model in particular, attracted only 1/3 of the 86 model buyers, while others opted for more comfortable automatic version. But when we have a look at the sale rate of the Subaru BRZ, which in many aspects is similar to the 86 model, the BRZ’s manual turns out to be much more popular among the fans of manuals, though these models can be called “twin brothers”.
According to Subaru representatives, more than
2/3 (78% to be more precise) of BRZ buyers gave preference to the 6-speed
manual version. It is hard to explain why there is such a difference between
take rates of these two similar models. Moreover, BRZ’s figures even
outperformed sales of the legendary Mazda Miata, which also had an impressive
76% rate for the open-top Miata variant.
Manual Subaru BRZ
It is not the only surprise from manual Subaru
models, as the last year sales of the manual WRX model reached staggering 90%,
and only 10% of buyers chose an alternative variant equipped with the CVT
transmission. These numbers are slightly bolstered, however, because the WRX
STI is manual only.
But if we take a closer look at all other
Subaru models equipped with manual transmissions, the situation looks not so
promising: the Impreza's take rate is 8%, the Crosstrek's is just 6%, and only
3% of Forester buyers preferred a manual in 2018. Thus, this year Subaru
decided to exclude the manual Forrester from the product line.
All in all, last year Subaru sold more than 47 thousand manual models, which is actually more than Honda’s results. Considering the fact that Subaru sells fewer cars than Honda, its total manual sales reached 7% in contrast to Honda's 2.6%.
