Party time for half-century

Fifty years since Subaru of New Zealand started importing the marque’s first all-wheel-drive (AWD) vehicle have been celebrated at a gala night on Auckland’s waterfront.

The event at The Cloud saw all 17 of the marque’s authorised centres receiving tsuru longevity and good fortune awards, which were also presented to the company’s longest-standing employees.

Winger Group owner Wayne Leach was honoured with a sustained success award to recognise decades of growth and commitment as New Zealand’s number-one Subaru retailer.

Michael Farmer, Farmer Autovillage’s managing director, received an outstanding performance award for sales and customer experience from 2020-23.

And Wallis Dumper, managing director of Subaru of NZ, presented the Subaru Corporation’s Masaki Fukushima with the AWD Subaru Country Award 100% AWD, 1997-23.

Overseas guests at the event included Colin Christie, managing director of Inchcape Australasia and Subaru Corporation’s Fukushima-san and Ryota Arai, who are respectively general

Down the years

1958 manager and assistant manager of the Pacific, Latam, CIS, Middle East and Africa sales division.

Subaru’s 360 is introduced and becomes a bestseller.

1966The 1000 becomes the marque’s first model with a horizontally opposed Boxer engine.

1973The first Subaru with on-demand AWD is released.

1992 Subaru of NZ becomes the exclusive importer and distributor of Subaru Corporation products.

1997All models become exclusively AWD in this country.

Subaru Australia’s managing director Blair Read, who was originally part of the Subaru of NZ team more than 15 years ago, also attended.

Dumper said: “Decades ago, I remember extra airbags as an option on the Legacy and asking for disc brakes on the Impreza.

“I remember robust discussions about dropping 50 per cent of our range to go 100 per cent AWD only and replacing those 2WD units with the Forester, and replacing 33 per cent of our sales when we phased out the Legacy to go with the Outback only.

“I remember robust discussions with our ad agency about moving the brand to high ground, not grinding it down in fleet volumes to retain customer value.

“I cannot assure anyone in this room the next 50 years won’t be challenging, but I can let you know that if you have the right attitude, it will be fun for most of the time.”

Dumper added the decision was made late last year to mark the brand’s 50th anniversary after three tough years for the industry.

He offered commiserations to not only Subaru authorised centres affected by Cyclone Gabrielle’s devastating impacts, but all New Zealanders who have suffered losses due to flooding.