Mr. Regular calls the Subaru SVX "one of the most amazing cars ever made in the nineties," and he bets you never heard of it. He would lose that against me, just like how Subaru lost $75 million trying to sell a luxury GT in America before any of the rally success.
Subaru Vehicle X. How crazy nineties is that?
Also known as the Alcyone in Japan, the SVX wasn't Subaru's wildest car, because that would clearly be the XT Coupe, but it was so advanced and so hopelessly expensive that they lost $3,000 on all the 14,257 they managed to sell in the US. That's right. Just 5,280 units found a new home in the first year, and only 640 people remained interested five years later in 1997.
That's because while American SVXs came with automatic gearboxes and all-wheel drive as standard, the base car also cost about $40 grand in today's money, while for a nice one, you had to fork out $47K. During recession, for a car made by Subaru, maker of boxy grocery getters nobody cared about.
Subaru tried to boost sales by turning the SVX into a PPG Pace Car and offering a cheaper, front-wheel drive only version, but that still wasn't enough to convince people that this futuristic, flat-six powered Giugiaro wonder was the luxury car they needed.
Humanity just wasn't ready at the time, but it is now!