Subaru seems to have a strategy set in stone these days. Build the most straightforward all-wheel drive products possible and don’t deviate from the safety of mainstream sales practices. The company has certainly grown over the last decade but can it ever regain its reputation as a brand that enthusiasts love? You’ve just become CEO, now what do you do?
Sales numbers aren’t a real big problem for Subaru compared to other brands that we’ve put you in charge of recently. Both Alfa Romeo and Buick need a lot more help. With that in mind, would you stand pat with Subaru’s current direction or resist standing on the laurels of recent success by going bold?
Expanding on the current strategy likely means digging down deeper toward improved quality, better reliability, and maybe adding little ownership touches that rival competitors like longer warranty coverage or complimentary maintenance. It’s worth noting that Subaru just replaced its CEO with Atsushi Osaki who clearly has an eye focused on more electrification in the near future.
Read: You’ve Been Hired As Buick’s New CEO, What Would You Do?
Of course, the fun route is likely to go big by aiming to reposition Subaru as an enthusiast-forward brand. Rally successes in the late 1990s and early 2000s certainly helped the brand grow in the eyes of the enthusiast community and now seems like as great a time as ever for Subaru to announce that it was just kidding about canceling the STI til an electric version could come online. For now, we’ll just have to settle for the also epic Toyota GR Corolla.
As CEO you could also expand into a newly growing segment, small pickup trucks. The Baja sure feels just a touch ahead of its time these days and perhaps a taller and slightly larger version could do the brand good. In fact, it doesn’t feel like we’d be very surprised if Subaru actually did something like this in the near future.
Maybe the real key is to focus in on more capable off-roading models that could rival cars like the Jeep Wrangler or Ford Bronco. If Chevrolet isn’t going to do it Subaru might be able to sneak in there and grab some extra market share. Those are our ideas. What are yours?
