This Tough Sell is Being Deleted

What would it take for you to pay nearly 25 percent more for a vehicle in a trim range than the base model? Typically you don’t see such a hike in price on a vehicle unless it’s one that sits at the top of the luxury brand range or is a supercar from a name that carries the weight that we recognize, but Subaru had this price difference on one of its models and because it became such a hard vehicle to sell they have chosen to delete it form the lineup.

The vehicle in question is the Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid which is a car that offered us a hybrid powertrain but that only brought the fuel mileage to 29 city/33 hwy which was a bit of disappointment considering the standard Crosstrek already offered 26 city/33 hwy mpg. This lack of difference coupled with a price difference of $4,800 and you can see why this was such a hard sell. Imagine speaking to the dealer and wondering how long it will take you while driving in the city just to recoup the difference in fuel costs, not to mention the highway driving results in no benefit for you.

Thankfully Subaru noticed the fact that this hybrid wasn’t moving off their lots like they wanted and now will rid themselves of the Crosstrek Hybrid at least until they can make significant strides in this area. The standard model will continue onward for 2017 and beyond and will even add a new Premium Special Edition to the lineup to give you a new vehicle trim that might make more sense than the Hybrid did previously. This new edition will feature a black and red theme and ride on 17-inch five spoke dark gray wheels while both the exterior and interior feature black badging and black and red features to make this a dramatic and gorgeous version of the Crosstrek.

The base model of this SUV begins at $22,570 and can move up over that price with some options added. The Premium model will have a price of $23,370 with a manual transmission while the CVT automatic model will cost $24,370 for the 2017 model year. As you can see, having a hybrid that cost so much more wasn’t something that made sense on this particular model from Subaru at all and smart shoppers weren’t fooled when the highway numbers didn’t change.

The new Premium Special Edition will start at $26,670, which seems to be a reasonable price for the vehicle that adds some gorgeous looks to the lineup. This is only a small amount more than the Limited model that begins its existence at $26,070. Options on the Subaru Crosstrek can add to the price including a moonroof for $1,000, a moonroof plus navigation and push button starting will add $2,100 and the addition of EyeSight, a moonroof, navigation, and push button starting will increase the price by $2,895. Now this lineup makes sense and we should see strong sales of this new dramatic appearance Special Edition Crosstrek.