The 2013 Subaru BRZ. Image: Subaru
We enthusiasts have been telling the auto industry the same thing for years, if not decades: build an affordable rear-drive sport coupe with plenty of upgrade potential, and the buyers will come. It looks like we were right, since Edmunds is reporting that the Subaru BRZ and the Scion FR-S currently have the lowest days-to-turn (DTT) in the industry.
Days-to-turn is exactly what it sounds like: the number of days between delivery of a car from a manufacturer to delivery of the same vehicle to a customer. The industry average for vehicles in the United States is 53 DTT, while Subaru’s BRZ took just four DTT and Scion’s FR-S took only five DTT. Next on the fastest-seller list was another limited-production car, the Audi TT-RS; it stayed on dealer lots a mere seven days.
You could easily make the argument that these three examples should be excluded from the list, since all are specialty cars with short supply and high demand. That would make the real best seller car number four on the list: Acura’s new ILX sedan, which took only eight DTT. Last in the top five was Toyota’s new Prius c, which found a new home in an average of 10 days.
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We’re not sure there’s a common theme here. Sure, all five models are compact in size, but three emphasize entertainment value above all else, while two are more focused on fuel economy. If there’s any takeaway for the auto industry in these numbers, it’s probably this: when you build cars that customers want to buy, they don’t stay on dealer lots very long.
Kurt Ernst has been passionate about automobiles and driving nearly his entire life. His early years were shaped working in the family service station, though his real passion was auto racing. After graduating from the University of Colorado, Kurt spent a year club racing with the Sports Car Club of America, before focusing on a business career in marketing and project management. Later, his passion for writing and the automotive hobby found him freelancing for a variety of automotive news sites, including Automotive Addicts and Motor Authority, where his work was syndicated and appeared in several national publications. Recognized as an expert in the automotive field, Kurt joined Hemmings Motor News as an Associate Editor in 2013, and in the years since has progressed to Editor, Hemmings Daily; Managing Editor for Hemmings Motor News, Hemmings Classic Car, Hemmings Muscle Machines, and the Hemmings Daily; and now, Managing Editor, Hemmings Auctions. Kurt was instrumental in organizing the Hemmings Motor News Concours d’Elegance from 2013-2019, and has served as a judge at this event and The Vintage Racing Stable Concours d’Elegance. A Skip Barber Racing School graduate and prolific writer, Ernst is also skilled in copyediting, project management, brand development, and public relations.
