Subaru UK announces sharp BRZ pricing

SUBARU has announced its highly anticipated BRZ coupe will wear an identical starting price to its Toyota 86 twin in the UK market.

Subaru’s version of the rear-drive sportscar had been expected to command a slight premium over the Toyota.

The BRZ will be available in the UK at launch in two specification levels – base SE and flagship SE Lux, with prices starting at 24,995 ($A39,200).

This is around 1500 ($A2350) more than the UK price of the Mazda MX-5 hardtop, which retails in Australia from $47,200.

Subaru Australia national corporate affairs manager David Rowley told GoAuto today that a decision on local BRZ pricing remained “some way off”, with the local launch not scheduled until the third quarter of this year – some months after Toyota’s launch of the 86 in June.

Mr Rowley said Subaru Australia had been “guided by the factory in terms of production availability, and the car is in very high demand”.

While high global demand is likely to limit BRZ allocation Down Under, Mr Rowley could not say what local allocation would be, but said the company was heartened by the level of interest in the car.

Toyota Australia aims to price the 86 between $30,000 and $40,000, but last month advised GoAuto that it was still awaiting costings from the Japanese factory to see if this could be achieved.

From top: Subaru BRZ, Toyota 86 and Chrysler 300C.

Subaru Australia – which only confirmed its intentions to sell the car here in December – has not revealed a target price, but it is understood the car could undercut the iconic WRX, which is priced from $39,990.

Both BRZ variants include 17-inch alloy wheels, dual-zone climate-control, leather steering wheel, iPod connectivity and keyless entry with push-button start as standard.

The SE Lux gets heated leather seats and costs an extra 1500 ($A2350).

An optional six-speed automatic with paddle shifters, available on both models, also costs 1500.

Subaru Australia has said it will import just a single, well-specified version of the car, which suggests the SE Lux version, but it is unclear if it will carry that model name here.

Both the BRZ and 86 are powered by a Subaru-developed, normally aspirated 2.0-litre flat-four engine fitted with Toyota-developed cylinder heads with direct injection.

The DOHC engine has square (86x86mm) cylinder dimensions and develops 147kW of power at 7000rpm and a modest 205Nm of torque at some 6600rpm.

Both the six-speed manual and six-speed auto are sourced from Toyota.

Subaru has confirmed that the BRZ emits as little as 164 grams of carbon dioxide in automatic guise (181g/km for the manual) using UK testing methods, with fuel consumption of just 6.9 litres per 100km (7.6L/100km for the manual).

In other pricing news from the UK, Chrysler has announced its new 300C luxury sedan, powered by a beefy 176kW/540Nm V6 turbo-diesel engine, will start from 35,995 ($A56,500).

The new 300C will arrive in Australian showrooms in July.