[ScoobyDo]

A Subaru of America Sales Manager told me that Subaru will not be doing "presales" with the STi. :roll:

Subaru has decided to allocate the STi based upon the following, dealer performance criteria:

50% based on overall Subaru vehicle sales
50% based on WRX sales
This is established on a 12 month basis, April to March, probably.

The higher your dealers Sales Index is, the more STi's they will get per allocation. Allocations are typically every three weeks, or so. The first allocation is supposed to be larger.

Example: Let's say dealer A sells 100 Subarus and 0 WRX's, and dealer B sells 100 Subarus and they are all WRX's. Let's look at the indices for each.

Dealer A: 100*.5 + 0*.5 = 50 + 0 = 50
Dealer B: 100*.5 + 100*.5 = 50 + 50 = 100

Guess who gets more STi's? The dealer that sells a lot of WRX's and has reasonable sales in the rest of his fleet.

Now for some numbers :lol: John Eyer, Subaru District Sales Manager said, 'that Subaru will ship 300 to 400 STi's per allocation with the first allocation being somewhat larger.'

If you are upset about this, please don't take it out on me, or JJ, or this site, or your dealer, or, or, or. Please, if this bothers you as much as it bothers me. Write to Subaru and tell them why you think you should be able to order an STi, e.g. "Presale" from them through the dealer of your choice.

 

[Marine06]

I went into Irvine Subaru a week ago and heard roughly the same story. SOA would be shipping roughly 300 to 500 with small allocations each month over a 12month period. This also means that a desiree will not be able to sell at msrp and make a decent profit (i dont blame her either).

 

[DVTURK]

I showed my Subaru dealer in No. Virginia, where I am #2 on the list, this thread and below is his reponse.

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Subaru has told us the allocation of STi is based on WRX sales. The way its been figure , hasnt been told to us. We been told some dealers will not be getting any STi's (those are prob. the dealers selling 0 Wrx's )

Subaru did this with the Wrx release at first. But you hear how they may or may not do the alloctions. But Subaru doesnt put it in writting. So no one really knows for sure.

We are selling a fair amount of WRX's here, I check last month numbers and 17% of our sales were WRX's which is strong. The Subaru Rep. is this area did say yesterday to me on the phone, that it looks like they (Subaru) maybe able to make more STi's also.

**********************************************************************************************************

 

[CloNeGTS]

So does this mean that all of the dealers that were told to start taking orders way back in October or whenever it was are being told 'nevermind'? What about these official 'sold orders' we've all placed? Those of us that gave out deposits? How does all of this fit in?

If I'm reading this right, this means our sold orders will just be thrown in the mix with the rest of the numb nuts that just found out about the STi and called their dealers this week!!!

 

[Tb311]

Man if that happens I will be really pissed off. :evil: I put in my order last November at Irvine. And did anyone here read the post from Desiree http://www.imprezawrxsti.com/postnuke/modules.php?op=modload&name=phpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=373. When I went there they told me that Irvine was the number 1 WRX dealer and sold the most WRX's in the world . If thats true then they should be getting quite a bit of STi's.

 

[ScoobyDo]

The dealer lists are still intact. The only change is how Subaru chooses to allocate and refuses to "Presell" the STi. This is a first.

I am working every angle that I know how on this. I have a fair amount of egg on my face because of Subaru's very unexpected change in "presale" policy. I have some pretty strong arguments as to why Subaru should "presell the STi just as they have "presold" every other vehicle.

1) Why should JJ and others whip up all this interest in the STi if it jeopardizes their chances of getting one? This is a rhetorical question. Nevertheless, I want to hear a major Subaru player, one with something at stake, answer that question. The only fair and reasonable answer is to allow "Presales".

2) If Subaru does not want to sell very many STi's, they should greatly increase the invoice price. That will have the same affect as the "no Presell" policy, except Subaru will keep the extra revenue per vehicle, rather than the dealers. Again the only fair and reasonable answer is to fill the outstanding, or pent up demand. The fairest way to do this is by honoring the standard "presale" arrangements. It is the pent up demand that JJ and websites like this are to a great extent responsible for. Is this how you want to repay your greatest fans, Subaru?

3) I am working on this one. Perhaps some of you out there can come up with a few.

As a last resort I am going to post the email address of the decision maker at Subaru that is responsible for this debacle, so that all of you out there can tell him just how you feel about it! :evil:

All right, some of this is just the ramblings of an angry man, but know this I am busy trying to get some fair resolution to this situation.

 

[SnowbordrWRX]

When I went there they told me that Irvine was the number 1 WRX dealer and sold the most WRX's in the world . If thats true then they should be getting quite a bit of STi's.

Not so...NY has a dealership that sold more. I think Irvine is #1 or #2 in sales in its region. I'm not sure if that's overall or WRX's.

I don't doubt that Irvine will be getting quite a few STi's though...

 

[ScoobyDo]

Last week Desire` told me that Irvine Subaru was #3 in the country in WRX sales. They sold over 100 WRX's in December. Count them that is about three a day, if they take deliveries on Sundays, which they don't.

Remember the story on the WRX? I have been told by those that have been closely watching Subaru a lot longer than me, 'Subaru said that they would only build ~5000 WRX's', panic ensued. The good news, they sold 15,000 WRX's the first year of its introduction.

We can only hope that Subaru will do as well in meeting the demand for STi's.

 

[91TB78]

I've read that SOA sold more than 18,000 WRXs the first year (was supposed to be an allotment of only about 5-10K cars). Then the second year they sold 18,000 in the first 6 months of sales or something crazy like that.

I'm not too worried about the STi's sales. SOA still wants to make money..badly.

 

[ScoobyDo]

...This also means that a desiree will not be able to sell at msrp and make a decent profit (i dont blame her either).

It does not mean that she won't make a decent profit. Did she tell you that? That is not true.

The dealers buy, or finance the car at invoice (plus they get bennies like advertising $ depending on how many cars they buy) then they mark it up and sell it. There is plenty of profit in there.

Desire` agreed to sell STi's to our Club for $1500 over invoice. If she fills 100 STi's in the first year that would be $150,000 in gross profit. I think that is a decent profit.

 

[91TB78]

Desire` agreed to sell STi's to our Club for $1500 over invoice. If she fills 100 STi's in the first year that would be $150,000 in gross profit. I think that is a decent profit

I agree, that is decent profit. Even so, with a dealer like Irvine you go quantity sales over big profit on small sales. I think typically it is a HUGE mistake if any dealer marks up cars. Sure they can get some rich guy to pay it, but why do that when you can make long-time loyal customers who will come back for warranty repairs, accessories, other cars, etc, etc.

 

[CloNeGTS]

Here is the info I got from my dealer in Cedar Rapids when I showed him this thread.

_______________________________________

Finally SOA has given us most of the specs for the '04 STi. It does look like we will start seeing them at the dealership sometime in June instead of August like I beleive I told you. As far as the allocation for sold orders they are giving each dealer 1 of their sold orders until the 300 STi's per month are distributed then they will give the dealer their 2nd order.

_______________________________________

Not real sure what that means there about the 300 per month are distributed. Does that mean each dealer gets 1 per month?

Oh well...I feel better now.

 

[prost893]

Desire` agreed to sell STi's to our Club for $1500 over invoice. If she fills 100 STi's in the first year that would be $150,000 in gross profit. I think that is a decent profit.

And that's not even counting holdback! I wonder what that is. Probably around $1000.

 

[st_eye]

Desire` agreed to sell STi's to our Club for $1500 over invoice. If she fills 100 STi's in the first year that would be $150,000 in gross profit. I think that is a decent profit.

What club is this? Cuz i want in!....

 

[ScoobyDo]

It would be a long drive for you, but here is one of the original threads on this topic. http://www.imprezawrxsti.com/postnuke/modules.php?op=modload&name=phpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=373

It should be noted here that this deal was entered into when the dealers assumed that Subaru would take "presales" on the STi just like their other vehicles. Well, much to our chagrin, Subaru Regional Managers have been heard saying, 'no presales on the STi...'. Exactly what this means to us we have yet to determine.

Oh, and this is the Club www.imprezaWRXSTi.com You are a member and did not even know it.

PS: Some TX go getters ought to negotiate a Club deal with the two largest WRX selling dealers in Texas. Just a thought. Check out:
http://www.imprezawrxsti.com/postnuke/modules.php?op=modload&name=phpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=313 . If you are still serious about it after reading EVERYTHING. PM JJ for authorization and you can PM me for some pointers.