But I think it is very, very true that looking fast is a better investment from the manufacturer's POV than actually being fast. Looking fast costs a hell of a lot less to develop than being fast, and the market for looking fast is a lot bigger overall than that for actually being fast.
I think the low sales numbers of these cars have more to do with the overall brand demographics than anything else. How long has it been since Toyota had a performance car of any stripe in their line up? Most Toyota buyers are looking, ahem, for other qualities in their cars. As for Subies, man, I live in Subaru Central up here in New England. But this car is RWD, death for sales in the frozen tundra. WRXs sell, sure, but it's an AWD car that you can run in the winter. Not the BRZ, though.