Subaru Efficiency Sets The Standard....

Set amid tawny popcorn and soybean fields, weathered barns, and rusty silos, the Subaru of Indiana Automotive plant cuts a swath. A 3.4-million-square-foot monolith abutted by railroad tracks, SIA has a mountain of compost and the occasional coyote skittering through the surrounding 832 acres of woodland.

Step inside, though, and you'll discover why this might be the most exemplary car factory in America

In its 22-year history — a period that has spanned three recessions, a global financial crisis, massive U.S. auto bankruptcies, and the departure of Isuzu, a founding partner, from the operation — SIA has rolled out more than 3 million vehicles and has never resorted to layoffs. Instead, it's given workers a wage increase every year of its operation.

Staffers also enjoy premium-free health care, abundant overtime ($15,000 each, on average, in 2010), paid volunteer time, financial counseling, and the ability to earn a Purdue University degree on-site — all in a state that has lost 46,000 auto jobs and suffered multiple plant foreclosures in the past decade.

And the truly astonishing thing is how it achieved all this: through a relentless focus on eliminating waste. "This is not about recycling, or a nice marketing to-do," says Dean Schroeder, a management professor at Valparaiso University who has studied the plant. "This is a strict dollars-and-cents, moneymaking-and-savings calculation that also drives better safety and quality."

SEE THE REST OF THE STORY HERE....
by ROBEN FARZAD
 @Bloomberg BusinessWeek

The World's Worst Weatherman...

All-wheel drive is to North End Subaru's brand identity what cheesecake is to Junior's. And that has a lot to do with why the brand has been so strong, traditionally, in snow states. But in recent years, Subaru has made inroads in other regions as it has focused as much on cars on the Legacy platform as on its core Forester and Outback crossovers for which the brand has been known.

Now the Cherry Hill, N.J. automaker is making its symmetrical all-wheel drive underpinnings central to a humorous new campaign that makes light of nature's vicissitudes, or at least the TV weather announcers who bring us the predictions.

The campaign, "The World's Worst Weatherman," has the central idea that you can't count on predictions, but at least you'll be able to get around if you have a Subaru. Via AOR Minneapolis-based Carmichael Lynch, it includes TV, the home page at Subaru.com, Facebook, mobile applications and YouTube.

The ads feature a borderline incompetent weatherman, reminiscent of the Ted Baxter character on "The Mary Tyler Moore" show of the '70s -- who can't even get his geography correct, much less talk turkey about weather. In one spot, he starts to talk about weather in Washington, "our nation's capital," except he's pointing to the state. He mispronounces Boise but is obviously proud that he knows the city is in Idaho. In another video, he has absolutely no idea what the temperature numbers mean on the weather map, and the newscasters roll their eyes.

There are also Subaru-produced videos at subaru.com/weather that position Subaru against Toyota, Ford, Nissan and Honda for harsh-weather handling. The site also has games: "Conversation Starters," offering opening lines having to do with other things than the weather; "Time Wasted," a calculator for how much time you spend worrying about the weather; and "Weather Odds" that works out the probability of a person encountering inclement weather in their current location.

Alan Bethke, director of marketing at Subaru, says the campaign has a role in expanding the brand beyond the snowbelt, which has been Subaru's traditional stronghold.

"It's about getting people to understand what the Symmetrical AWD System can do for them, regardless of where they live -- not just in snow and ice. It's good for any road condition. Even for a dry road, it enhances the way the vehicle handles." He says that the brand, which has had three record sales years, recession notwithstanding, has also seen its share grow in the southern states.

Melissa Schoenke, account director at Carmichael Lynch, says the campaign includes five national TV ads that are also available for dealers. "There are also ads more appropriate to certain parts of the country," she says, adding that the creative will reflect the season. "Right now there's an emphasis on rain." Rather than a one- or two-month effort, the campaign will be extended and reflect the changing seasons, per Bethke. "We see it as something long-term; with fall and winter coming into play we see it as something with a long shelf life."

Central Massachusetts carshoppers finding fewer cars available.....

Buyers hearing that summer vehicle shortages are occurring earlier than they had planned, are visiting dealers to get the cars they want. April sales, which where reported last Monday, are expected to be up 19 percent from last year. Dealers say the increase is at least partly due to anxious customers.

The Japan earthquake is on peoples’ minds, said Adam Skolnick, general manager at Toyota Scion Watertown in Massachusetts. “There is more of a sense of urgency because they don’t want to be left without a vehicle,’’ he said. The March 11 quake devastated Japanese suppliers and shut down production at automakers for weeks. Analysts estimate production has fallen by about 500,000 vehicles and will continue to grow.

Toyota will not return to a regular production schedule in Japan until November at the earliest. Although Japanese automakers are the hardest hit, Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler have all curtailed production.
“As inventories rapidly deteriorate, April could be the last month that we’ll see strong sales numbers until late summer or early fall,’’ said Jessica Caldwell, an Edmunds.com senior analyst.


Yesterday, Honda warned dealers that the 2012 Civic and other models will be in short supply this summer. It also pushed back the fall launch of the CR-V small SUV by at least a month.

The primary impact will be on brands and parts manufactured solely in Japan. Small cars such as the Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris and Subaru Impreza could be in short supply, said Jesse Toprak, vice president at TrueCar.com. “Recovery from this crisis is difficult and constantly evolving … ’’ John Mendel, Honda’s US executive vice president, told US dealers in a letter.

The crisis is beginning to translate into a shortage of most cars and trucks on US dealers’ lots. Prices are inching up on some brands and models, including Mazda, Toyota, and Subaru. For now, there is in many cases, less than a two-month inventory of many models.

Welcome to the Subaru Family......

North End Subaru is very proud to welcome the Benson family into the worldwide Subaru family.

When Peter Benson of Richland, Wa. purchased his 2010 Subaru Outback he began a domino effect on his family here in Massachusetts. While the matriarch of this family, Patricia was visiting her son she had the opportunity to experience the Outback firsthand. She must have liked it.

fr. left: Patricia Benson, Laura Benson, North End Subaru Salesman Bob Waite, Kathy Benson

Just a few weeks ago Patricia decided to replace her car and naturally chose a beautiful 2011 Subaru Outback. She was quickly followed this week by new Subie owners Laura Benson and her sister Karen Benson with their 2011 Subaru Forester's.

When asked why they picked Subaru, all three ladies sited the standard All Wheel Drive and the overall sportiness of the Subaru crossover vehicles. " I really love how my Forester feels" said Laura, "with my new son I was really concerned about safety and the Subaru's have all the features I wanted.

Is your family a Subaru Family? Drop us a line and we will tell your Subaru family story here.

Ken Block and his Subies....

 North End Subaru favorite Ken Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino have both been taken to a hospital for examination after the Monster World rally Team driver crashed heavily during yesterdays Rally of Portugal shakedown stage.

A spokesman from the Monster team said: "Both Ken and Alex have been taken to hospital in Faro for precautionary checks. All I know is that they rolled, but they're okay." 

Just for fun let's take a look at a few of Ken's Subaru adventures...

 

 

Natural Disasters Sure To Affect Prices Of Imports...

U.S. shoppers could see prices for some of the more popular Japanese built hybrid and fuel-efficient vehicles such as the Toyota Prius and the Subaru line up rise in the coming weeks.

The cost of the imports are likely to go up as earthquake-related production shutdowns in Japan are reducing the supply of the autos at a crucial time for fuel prices.A time when consumers are increasingly shopping for gas-sipping models.

"The Prius will go from selling under invoice just a couple of weeks ago to over the sticker price a couple of weeks from now," said Jesse Toprak, an analyst with car price information company TrueCar.com.

While Japanese automakers build most of their bestsellers in the United States, some models are still assembled and shipped from Japan. A handful of those vehicles are already in tight supply in the U.S. because they are either hot sellers, such as Subaru's Forester and

Impreza, or fuel efficient vehicles, such as the Prius or Fit.

"We are doing a wait and see," said Dianne Whitmire, fleet director for Carson Toyota. "They are still assessing the supply issues in Japan. I hope it doesn't go back to dealers' marking up over sticker. But it looks like cars are heading back to MSRP."

Consumers will start to feel the crunch at the end of this month and into April, and the length of any price spike will depend on how quickly, and how completely, the Japanese auto industry can get back on line, analysts and dealers said.

In at least one measure of sales, Prius prices have already risen $169 to an average of $25,629 in the last week, according to TrueCar.com's listing of upfront, "no haggle" deals.

The Subaru models already have inventories of fewer than 30 days, and that's making dealers nervous.

"We are very concerned. We have no idea when we will see production start up again," said April Somers, general sales manager of Timmons Subaru in Long Beach. "Subaru was getting them here as fast as they could, and we were selling them real quick. Probably prices will rise."

The dealership has enough vehicles for a couple of weeks, "but we will really feel this in 30 days."

Toyota and other automakers in the beleaguered nation extended manufacturing suspensions Wednesday as they continued to assess the damage and to conserve energy to help Japan deal with multiple nuclear reactor generator failures.

IHS Automotive, an industry research firm, estimates that that as many as 185,000 vehicles were not built since the quake and that the number will continue to grow. March is typically the biggest month for Japanese auto production.

Automakers on both sides of the Pacific Ocean also are trying to figure out whether damage to the supply chain — the thousands of small companies that build components for vehicles — will create production bottlenecks that could delay production both in the U.S. and Japan.

"Once you start looking at the small suppliers in Japan, you see a lot of problems for the automakers … the small ones that might have been washed off the map and no one even knows yet," said David Sullivan, a product analyst with the consulting firm AutoPacific.

The lack of a single part can shut down an entire assembly line, Sullivan said. One of the crucial areas is that Japan remains a major source for automotive electronics, even for cars built in the U.S.

"Cars today can have upwards of 30 microprocessors in them. If some of those are coming from Japan it can have a ripple effect through the entire industry here," Sullivan said.

This is a worry even for European manufacturers. There is now a six- to eight-week supply of the semiconductors available to plants in North America and Europe, said Brian Johnson, an analyst at Barclays Capital. One automaker told Johnson that it would be a least a week before the manufacturers know the status of their semiconductor suppliers.

He said the "supply chain impact" of the quake is the biggest concern for the auto companies at this point.

Another issue is electrical power. Japan is going through a series of rolling power cuts that will continue at least until the end of April, officials of the Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. Auto factories and semiconductor plants are huge users of electricity and don't like power interruptions. The ovens in an auto plant paint shop can take as long as 10 hours to reach the correct temperatures, said officials. Having periods in which the power might go off makes it difficult to plan vehicle production, they said.