This has made a lot of people angry but gosh…

If you were one of the 2K plus laid off last week by Primedia then just keep telling your wife it was because Dave was expensive and you were sacrificed to get him back (as you are a genius!!!!). Tell her I said you are, indeed, a genius.

In another round of background to this story:

The talented who were not deemed dead weight and still have jobs are invigorated and excited by his return.

Bring it back, Dave! hasn’t rung so true since Wendy’s lost marketshare!!!

(does any one read this crap?)

The leaving and returning of David Freibuger

A bit ago I wrote about Travis Pastrana’s film, 199 Lives in Subaru’s Love Letter to Travis Pastrana and directly on the heels of his victory this week, I went to hear Tim Mahoney, VP of Subaru America’s marketing division at a Motor Press Guild event. Mahoney’s talk gave me a lot to think about and the one thing that really struck me was that Subaru is actually more green for three reasons (and these are my reasons, not Mahoney’s):

1. Subaru’s manufacturing plant in Indiana is 20 years environmentally conscious and is an industry example of how factories can co-exist with nature and communities. Among its accomplishments is that the plant recycles 99.3% of excess/leftover steel, plastic, wood, paper, glass, and other materials. The remaining 0.7% is shipped to the city of Indianapolis and incinerated to help generate steam and includes a wildlife habitat on site.
2. Something ridiculous like 90% of Subarus sold in the last 15 years are still on the road. It is completely normal for a Subaru to last 300,000 miles or more. And, Subaru owners are loyal: they will drive them until they can’t go anymore and then get a new one meaning that over a lifetime, owners will own a minimum number of cars. That means that these are not disposable cars that increase nasty manufacturing waste.
3. Travis Pastrana may use a lot of fuel in his races but by endoring such a highly energetic young personality, Subaru has made a wise choice because Pastrana fans tend to be the young, outdoorsy, athletic and loyal customers that will make great converts to the Subaru way of life: manufacture clean and manufacture less.

Mahoney also mentioned that Subaru Japan will be working closely with Daihatsu in Japan on alternative energy cars but frankly, I find it refreshing to see that they are not jumping on the band wagon of throwing a hybrid or diesel engine in every model without knowing the full implications of a quick sale vs. unproven and questionable technologies.

Here is an example of 2 great used Subarus with a lot of life and pep left in them.

Originally published here