What, no AWD??

subsidies.

are the reason the prius is so cheap as well, and yet we americans soak it up like its some drug.
If our govt would have helped pay for the development of EV cars years ago, like Japans did, the Volt would be out already

I’m a libertarian and I detest subsidies, but this is just another example of how the free market is distorted. Then we get lectured by boorish-emo-glasses-wearing-earthy-crunchy-granola-types about how foreign companies are so much more earth conscious and have proven the green business model’s viability. It makes me want to puke. That said . . . the founders DID have a mechanism for aiding domestic innovation . . . TARIFFS!!! Tariffs were designed to tax the consumption of better-made foreign goods and then to funnel those proceeds into the development of nascent domestic industry. I love the free markets, but our markets hardly free. If Japan won’t play fair then it is to put tariffs back in place. Time to tax Subaru. Of course, our politicians are too ignorant or corrupt to do it (they’ll claim that we must protect the free markets while ignoring the reality).

Maybe its weird current styling direction will complement a weird sounding Stella…

*I love the free markets, but our markets ARE hardly free.

**If Japan won’t play fair then it is TIME to put tariffs back in place.

I could improve the jobs report by hiring a phalanx of proofreaders . . .

I am really disappointed with Subaru. I would like to see thier strategy for the future I am not sure they know where they are going from design to decisions they have made lately. They are all over the place.

Remember Tribeca (Alfa and Porche love child look alike} WRC rally pull out. What else now little mini cars that run on batteries. No way.

@Lionwithoutpride
THANK YOU!
the eco-friendly-tree-hugging-nutsacs let the foreign companies come here, use our dealer network that was ALREADY built and funded by the BIG 3, and sell their vehicles in the states TAX FREE!

Subaru has some much better looking kei cars in the R series available in JP, why wouldn’t they base the EV off one of those instead of making people buy ugly?

Lionwithoutpride as a fellow libertarian I suggest reading anything depicting work of David Ricardo. The basic idea is that you are not placing tariffs against foreign country but against your own citizenry. It is another tax on top of your local inefficiency. If somebody can produce things cheaper taxing those efficiencies will make your own population poorer, without providing stimulus to local industry to compete. tariffs were terrific vehicle to enrich crown and empire, but also created black market, that founder on our country were proudly prospering in. If you recall tea party was NOT because taxes on tea were introduced, it was because taxes were eliminated.

I’m glad they plastered those Subaru graphics all over it. Otherwise I might have confused it for a Ferrari.

STELLA!!!! A Streetcar Named Aversion.

lionwithoutpride: “boorish-emo-glasses-wearing-earthy-crunchy-granola-types “? What did you run out of epithets for “liberal”? I find it interesting that conservatives have so many names for liberals, but how many do liberals have for conservatives? One – fascist!

Borat-

Forgive me if I am wrong; however, you appear to be missing the overarching argument I am making. To say that a tariff is a tax on the poor is ludicrous for the very fact that no great power has ever existed as a consumer culture. And it is only great powers that are able to adequately accommodate the poor out of their bountiful surpluses. At this point, there is no free market. You are subscribing to the China/Walmart argument, which holds that imports of cheap goods is a boon for Americans. That would be true IF the markets were free.

Were the markets free, there would be a balancing in indigenous industry offering products of higher quality and greater innovation to compensate for increased cost. Yet, no such balance is achievable when the competition imposes their own protectionist policies, which is the antithesis of free trade. The end result? There exists an environment in which no home industry can hope to prosper. Here is where we return to the notion that you cannot honestly name one great power that has achieved and maintained its status sans the means of production. Your equation for prosperity is shortsighted as it neglects the source of wealth and, instead, supplants the notion that we should race to the bottom on qualitative measures in exchange for quantity as though the ability to accumulate relative junk to exhaustion equates to the freedom of choice available in a true free market economy. I am sure you have read articles bemoaning the fact that Walmart kills competition by depriving consumers of choice. Sure, Walmart can undercut Toys ‘R’ Us on board games, but Walmart’s selection, as has been noted by many writers, is pitiful by comparison. Do you honestly believe that deprivation of choice is a free market principle that is not a tax on the poor? A tax on choice is as impoverishing as any tax on cost.

Basically, what you are really saying is that it is okay for China, Japan or anyone else to gain a competitive advantage by putting in place their own tariffs against our products whilst subsidizing their own and then decrying any protectionist means on our part as “beggar thy neighbor.” Do you really support the notion that one side has some God-given right to demand equality of trade while standing on the scales?

Again, because you seemingly missed it before: I DECRY ANY TAX! However, I will not condone the unfair trade practices of others and there is NOTHING anti-libertarian about mirroring foreign trade practices Don’t believe me? Read up on Ron Paul’s view of Tariffs. That said, I will look into reading some David Ricardo (though it will be awhile as I’m behind on all of my reading).

ahnuconun-

Actually buddy, I was NOT referring to liberals; but, rather, a particular intellectual bent that we refer to as elitism. More to the point, I was thinking about a few individuals in my own life. Besides, in my age-group conservative itself is considered a pejorative. Maybe Churchill had a point when he said something along the lines of: If you’re not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you’re not a conservative at forty you have no brain! I would be greatly interested to know what you think a fascist is.

It’s kind of scary how deeply entrenched our politics have become. It’s almost as though each side believes that their truths are immutable. We’re a republic for a reason. If you enjoy one-party politics there are a few historical examples I would point you towards (Great Leap Forward, Nazi Germany, 12 years of Republican Rule, 40 years of Democratic rule, etc. . . .). I am sure you do not; but, forgive me if I’m wrong, that does seem to be the tenor of your message. Cheery buddy.

ahnuconun-

A quick addendum: I really don’t mean to be flip in asking for your definition of fascism. Two of my undergrad degrees were in History and Political Science and the fact that there is no real agreement on the meaning of the term leads me to seek the definition utilized by the seeker in order to understand their meaning and motive. Otherwise, you might as well call conservatives “oogly-woogly-wumps,” which would be similarly mystifying.

Lionwithoutpride, but I never said that tariffs are taxes on poor. They are taxes on all citizens who consume product, poor and well to do alike. BTW, I did not say any of it, I read it while my scheister was in undergraduate school (Stern) taking economics and wanted intellectual discussions. Even during MBA, I wasn’t required to read David Ricardo.
China, Korea, Italy and everyone else are taxing their consumers (citizens) when placing tariffs on goods. For many years you could not buy IBM computer in Brazil due extremely high tariffs, as a result Brazil fell behind other countries in productivity, since their entry into productivity market was very high and their own computers were both expensive and obsolete.
BTW, my scheister is interning in Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. How are you spending summer?

Borat-

Spending my summer interning at a small firm, but I will leave out the firm’s name (My boss would decry my linking the firm to my personal politics . . . even if I am using a pseudonym). Congrats to your daughter though. As long as she wants to work in a large firm, she’s certainly chosen one of the best ones (and they her). Let me know if she plans on actually working as a lawyer post-bar. Most of my classmates and I are looking at the bleak hiring landscape for lawyers (regardless of resume) and are considering jumping ship. A lot of New York and Philly firms are firing last years hires and hired far fewer this year, which has led to a glut of lawyers flowing into the country bumpkin firms where I live and hope to someday work (a bit of an annoyance to have to jockey for position with city-folk who usually ignore the rural areas).

As further comment on the actual article . . . yeah, Subaru does seem to be having trouble with coherent designs and maintaining their overall recognizability. Maybe with some of these more technologically experimental vehicles they figure they should experiment with design as well? In a lot of ways though, I don’t think we can complain about Subaru’s styling because they, like the Volvo of old, have carved out a nice niche for themselves as innovators of safety, power, utility and environmentalism without any care for looks. In a lot of ways, that appeals to me!

Yeah, I aggre with Shane and Hoosier: why isn’t this based off (or at least why didn’t they make it look as good as) the R1/R2 kei cars? AWD would be nice too but perhaps there just wasn’t any more room after adding all the battery packs.

Lion: First, let me just state, I’m not implying that you are a fascist. I’m simply making light of the fact that name-calling is easy and profiling is easy and stereotyping is easy. The problem is that with over-use of certain pejoratives, they begin to take on a life of their own and the real definitions become obscured leading to no real agreement on the definition of the term, and what it means for one person is different from another. Catch my drift, nigga!

@ahnuconun
the point you are proving is exactly why foreign car companies hold the title for “fuel efficient, reliable cars.”
nonfactual ‘hear-say” lead the way to their position IMO

let me give an example:
Windows and Mac OS
the general consensus is that Windows is more “problematic” and contains more viruses.
It may be true, but they hold nearly 80% of the PC market share.
Who bought a Mac in the 80’s and early 90’s? Just about nobody.
if I’m a computer hacker developing the next virus am I going to design it to attack a Mac?
or attempt to demolish 95% of the computers we use today!?
no brainier.

this is apparent in the auto industry as well. The number of older, problematic GM vehicles on the road today is much higher simply because back when those vehicles were produced, they held in the upwards of 80% of the market share!
there were minimal foreign cars in the US market, hence less problems that the public has become aware of.

This is the type of things that the general public tend to leave out of their opinions on domestic and foreign vehicles, simply because they are unaware.

not arguing with anyone, just attempting to have an in depth discussion, something that seams to have shriveled up and blown away in my generation.