Great news for Subaru fans and sports and enthusiasts with Subaru Australia confirming the BRZ sports car will in fact be coming to Australia with sales to commence mid-2012.
As recently as three weeks ago at the Tokyo Motor Show, Subaru Australia was still mulling-over whether the rear-wheel-drive sports car would harm its all-4WD brand image, but overwhelming reaction from dealers has swayed management in favour of the two-door coupe (a joint development with Toyota’s 86).
One Subaru dealer in Adelaide has already grabbed the first BRX coming to Australia for a local customer – even though specifications (and price!) have not been finalized.
We already know the Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86 are pure sports cars (Car Showroom drove the Toyota 86 in Japan) with the low-mid-mounted 147kW 2.0-litre Subaru Boxer engine, running Toyota fuel injection and transmissions, driving the rear wheels and delivering a genuine sports car dynamic.
“We have been an exclusively all-wheel-drive company since 1997 so the decision to import the Subaru BRZ was not taken lightly,” explained Subaru Australia Managing Director, Nick Senior. Mr Senior added that customer enquiries and feedback from testing and development for the Australian market convinced local management that the BRZ has a strong case.
No word yet on local pricing (expect the Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86 to mid-$30,000) and also no word on the racy STi version of the BRZ which appeared at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
