There is no brand in Japan with as much unused potential as Subaru. It is kind of like Apple Inc. was in the late 1990s before it came roaring back to prominence with the return of Steve Jobs.

You will not find a more talented and dedicated, if a bit anachronistic, group of automotive engineers. The problem is they make unique products but have failed to build a brand that connects them to a wide range of customers. It is a textbook case of a company that still believes, "if we make good products people will buy them." That era ended with the last century.

Of course, a company must produce top-level products, even more so than previously because of rivals approaching or exceeding Japanese quality levels. Observing Subaru for a few years, the first area where it has failed to follow in Apple's footsteps is in branding. It's not that its brand and design strategy are misguided — but it just never seems to have found one necessary.