They Are Gettin' The Last Laugh, All The Way To The Bank

How Subaru Outsmarted A Bad Consumer Reports Review And Took Over America

[H]ead over to Road & Track, where you’ll find a lovely story about Subaru’s rise to glory in the United States. I won’t tell the whole story here, you’ll have to read R&T’s, but it does include a wonderful bit about how the Subaru 360 received an absolutely scorching review from Consumer Reports in 1969 (which you can read here).

In response, Subaru simply just worked around Consumer Reports. From R&T’s story:

So Subaru of America decided to focus on markets where Consumer Reports had less sway—as Automotive News puts it, “small towns where the reputation of the local dealer was more important than awareness of the brand he was selling.” The American importer targeted rural regions far away from the big cities. Places like Vermont, Minnesota, Washington state, New Hampshire and western Pennsylvania—where hardworking people on a budget might be willing to try a relatively-unknown brand offering cheap, frugal transportation.

That, plus some innovative four-wheel drive tech and an oil embargo helped jump start Subaru sales in America. It’s also why it is no coincidence that everyone thinks about Subarus when they think New England and the Pacific Northwest.

(Jalopnik.com)