It seems like Subaru is working on a green ad campaign. And it is successful as far as I am concerned. I am ready to buy one. They have their factory on an wildlife refuge. There is almost no trash since they recycle as much as they can. And they have high mpg safe cars. That’s all I want. A safe car with higher miles per gallon and made as green as possible. I know each thing we buy has an environmental cost that is not being paid for up front. And that the best car purchase I can have is to keep what I have, and to keep it maintained. Right now I am at 124,000 miles and it has been mostly smooth sailing. Can you imagine the extra materials that would have been mined, the extra energy that would have been burned if I had bought a new car every 3 years?
Buying a Subaru is saying a lot for me since right now we have a Chrysler, a Chevy and a Ford in the driveway. I like to buy American and my cars have all been American from my first car, a Pacer. I like to keep my money in this country. I figure that eventually the money might come back around to me a little quicker than if I send my money somewhere else like Japan, China or the Middle East. But I want to keep the whole Earth clean. It is a tough call and one I may make, but so far my old rig is still running. And I hope it will continue for many miles.
Good for you for looking at Subarus (and anything else that is energy efficient and has a small “Earth friendly” footprint. Buying American is always nice but really, in today’s day and age doing this does not make as much difference as it used to. Most of our carmakers have moved their manufacturing out of the US (or at least supplemented it outside the US as labor is cheaper, environmental laws are more lax, etc.) while many foreign brands including Subie, BMW, Mitsu, Toyota, Honda, etc. have made a big impact by building US plants that employ US workers. Ironic, isn’t it? Something to think about.
Are U people NUTZ?!
It’s a WILDLIFE REFUGE!
Subaru built a Car Factory in an Indiana Wildlife Refuge AND they’re crowing about it on TV as something POSITIVE ?!?!
Did I wake up in an alternate universe?
Whatever U guys are smoking, I WANT SOME!
@Krusty. Do your homework. They didn’t build a plant in an wildlife refuge, they created a wildlife refuge around the plant.
If you did a bit of research you’d find that the plant recycles 99.97% of the materials used the closest to closed-loop, Zero-Waste you can get (the remaining .03% are materials fed. law requires be disposed of through thermal destruction. But even there, Subaru searched out a company that recycles the ash from that thermal destruction for use as lining of ladles in steel mills. The company has even worked to make sure rain runoff from the parking lot is diverted to protect the refuge.
I make my living analyzing green initiatives and calling out green washing v. actual green efforts. Subaru is really setting the bar for everyone else.