Subaru BRZ, Scion FR-S Rise This Year, Outpace Predecessors

Bringing affordably priced, rear-drive sports cars back to the U.S. market has been a good move so far for Fuji Heavy Industries’ Subaru and Toyota’s Scion brand.

Sales of the their jointly developed sports cars, the Subaru BR-Z and Scion FR-S, are up this year.

BRZ sales jumped 116.1% to 7,882 in January-November, while FR-S deliveries soared 74.3% to 17,298, WardsAuto data shows.

Comparing the May-November periods (sales launched in May 2012), BRZ sales are up 44.8% in 2013 and FR-S volume has climbed 11.2%.

Both the Subaru and Scion are tracking on par with or ahead of the U.S. sales pace posted by some RWD sports cars when they first hit the market.

For instance, the third-generation Toyota MR2 launched in 2000 tallied 7,233 sales that year and 6,254 in 2001. Nissan sold 9,242 370Zs in 2009 and 10,215 in 2010.

The Mazda RX-8 had 12,346 deliveries in its introductory year of 2003, though volume skyrocketed to 23,690 in 2004. The BRZ and FR-S also lag the first-generation MR2, which racked up 32,309 units in 1985, its first year of sale in the U.S., and 27,841 in 1986.

While the BRZ already has surpassed the high-end 12-month target of 7,000 units set by Subaru at launch, barring a stellar December the FR-S likely will fall shy of Scion’s stretch goal of 20,000 2013 deliveries.

While the FR-S outsells the BRZ by a more than 2:1 ratio, partially due to a supply contract that allocates Toyota a bigger share of capacity, Subaru U.S. officials tell WardsAuto their car spends fewer days on dealer lots.

Subaru of America President Tom Doll calls the sports car "efficient in terms of advertising. We don’t spend a lot on it and word-of-mouth drives a lot of the (showroom) traffic."

Sports cars have been notorious for burning brightly, then fading fast. Derivatives of both cars have been rumored, with Australia website Car Sales reporting in October that Subaru and Toyota were thinking of developing a 4-door "shooting brake" variant. A convertible Toyota was hinted at with its 2013 Geneva auto show GT86 concept but reportedly has been put on the back burner.

A turbocharged variant also has been the topic of speculation. But at the 2011 Japan media drive for the BRZ, Subaru engineers said there wasn’t engine-compartment room to fit a turbo and relating plumbing, meaning a turbo model isn’t likely until the car’s second generation.

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