[Opie]

October 6th, 2008

You may have noticed some changes to the SubaruChallenge.com website, recently Subaru of America's marketing department decided that they liked the SubaruChallenge idea so much they wanted it and also decided that we should just give them the name, the event format and the website content we have worked so hard on for the past 6 years. Because we have worked so hard over the past 6 years with individual Subaru dealerships and Subaru of America's own regional offices to host the best automotive customer appreciation events in the U.S. we did not feel obligated to just give away our hard work. In response, Subaru of America has made it clear that if we do not give them the items they are requesting, that we are no longer welcome to use their name/identity/etc.

In our opinion, this is an attempted, very-hostile take-over of the Challenge idea and format, none of which was created by Subaru of America.

We at the now re-named ChallengePromotions.com do not think this is right, operating as SubaruChallenge.com we have always promoted Subaru products, Subaru dealers and the Subaru of America Corporation in a positive and beneficial light. We did it to spread the joy of owning and driving a Subaru vehicle to owners who may have never known the performance side of their vehicle's. We did it to help Subaru succeed and apparently it has done all these things and now S.O.A. wants it for their own. We would love to see the SubaruChallenge idea grow and even be fully endorsed by Subaru of America as long as it as done in the proper manner of doing business.

What does this mean for the Upcoming Florida and Folger Subaru Challenge events?
Nothing, these events are being put together by independent Subaru dealerships and enthusiasts not involved at all with this decision from S.O.A. and both of these events will be held as planned.

How do I get to the website content? The website seems to be down
Due to all the host changes, there may be some delays while the DNS is updated, once that is done the ChallengePromotions address will forward to the new site, if that isn't working you can acess the site content directly at ChallengePromotions

What does this mean for the future Subaru Challenge events?
While that remains to be seen, at this point it is doubtful that any future Challenge events will have Subaru in the name.

Who can I contact to voice my opinion?
At this time you can send questions or letters of support to: info@challengepromotions.com
Contact information for those in the S.O.A. Marketing Department may be provided in the future.

The site previously-known as SubaruChallenge.com would like to thank the following for their support over the past 6 years:
All of the over 2,300 participants
Subaru of America South Central Region
Subaru of America Great-Lakes Region
Subaru of America Penn-Jersey Region
Subaru of America Mid-Atlantic Region
Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc.
Mastro Subaru - Tampa, FL
Subaru of Jacksonville - Jacksonville, FL
Palm Subaru - Gainesville, FL
Folger Subaru - Charlotte, NC
Lee's Summit Subaru - Lee's Summit, MO
Koby Subaru - Mobile, AL
Subaru of Gwinnett - Gwinnett, GA
Annapolis Subaru - Annapolis, MD
Austin Subaru - Austin, TX
Gillman Subaru - Houston, TX
McRee Subaru - Dickinson, TX
Subaru of Dallas - Dallas, TX
Subaru of Plano - Plano, TX
Teape Subaru - Hurst, TX
Palm Beach Subaru - West Palm Beach, FL
Jack Miller Subaru - Kansas City, MO
Beyer Subaru - Alexander, VA
Heritage Subaru - Owings Mills, MD
Wilkin’s Subaru - Glen Burnie, MD
Bob Wade Subaru - Harrisonburg, VA
Pence Subaru - Midlothian, VA
Beyer Subaru - Alexander, VA
Subaru of Richmond - Richmond, VA
Perry Subaru - Norfolk, VA
Heritage Subaru - Owings Mills, MD
Kelly Subaru - Chattanooga, TN
Prestige Subaru - Asheville, NC
Fairway Subaru - Greenville, SC
Big Red Subaru - Norman, OK

[snorky]

just read this email and was about to post a thread. Very typical of SOA.

[CGMDan]

Opie- I see your join date.... You might recall Subarus response to imprezawrxsti.com, and the fiasco that created.

Don't "give" them the SubaruChallange.com url. Make them buy it. I would think you's have a good case should they decide to get nasty.

[Opie]

Originally Posted by CGMDan

Opie- I see your join date.... You might recall Subarus response to imprezawrxsti.com, and the fiasco that created.

Don't "give" them the SubaruChallange.com url. Make them buy it. I would think you's have a good case should they decide to get nasty.

Yes I do remember that...sorta like deja vu. The domain is still mine, and it's paid up until 2012 and is also set to auto-renew 6 months before it expires. I'm not giving it away...I also just picked up SubieChallenge.com...should be no problems with that as it's not their legal name...