Subaru Sees US Production Boost Five Years Early Due To Rising Sales
Fuji Heavy Industries announced it would increase production at its Lafayette, Ind. plant as Subaru hits its North American sales target five years early.
Fuji Heavy president Yasuyuki Yoshinaga said last week Subaru would reach 600,000 units sold in the United States and Canada per year by the end of March 2016, a milestone originally set for 2021 Automotive News reports.
The U.S. market alone accounts for 62 percent of the automaker’s global sales, with Q1 2015 sales rising 12 percent to 128,900 units. Meanwhile, 570,000 units left for North American showrooms during FY 2014, surpassing a target of 540,000 models projected for the U.S. alone by the end of 2015. The current forecast points to 554,000 sold in the U.S. by next March.
Thus, Yoshinaga proclaimed production in Indiana would climb to 394,000 units annually by the end of 2016. Fuji Heavy originally planned to boost said production to 328,000 by the end of said period, then to 400,000 by the end of FY 2020.
The Indiana plant is set to assemble the next-gen Impreza, which will hit showrooms in 2016 upon the new modular Subaru Global Platform, and with direct injection for its boxer engine onboard.
[Photo credit: Kamil Kaluski/ The Truth About Cars]
Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.
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As a holdout of the manual Legacy wagon set, I think the solution lies in the XV Crosstrek. I live on a crappy road in New England. At least two months a year ("mud season", and with winter, it's more like five months), I need a car with more than 6" ground clearance (more is better, and with the King springs and skid plates on my rusty205k mile 2003 Legacy wagon, I'm ahead of a modern Outback). I'll let you know when my Legacy has a four-figure component failure. Which will be sometime between tomorrow or 350k miles. Although I may try to make the inherited Volvo 850 sedan fill the role in the Subaru's absence, even though I'm constantly looking for the clutch pedal when I drive it.
Got an Outback with Eyesight. The teenager texting will wake up fast if his car had Eyesight as his brakes go on and the warning light flashes. I also have the 3.6 engine, but it could really run with the small H4 (with a mild turbo boost of course!) p.s. I can fit 2 bikes in the back without taking the wheels off and still have room for a passenger in a second row seat.
Sales would be even higher if the WRX was still offered in a 5 door hatchback.
I've owned three Subarus. The new ones bore me. The Forester is a wasteland inside, and offers no dynamic qualities as offset. The Impreza is so noisy it's like driving around with a rear window down, and the engine is a major wimp. The new Legacy/Outback is voluminous inside with a semi-decent interior and a very soft ride. So these are the reasons people obviously love them! Good thing for Subaru that they have become so popular in the US, because the Chinese refused to allow them to build a plant in China. As for the usual commenters who show up to deride Subaru AWD, they need to drive a Subaru to discover what in the real world the stable ride they provide, soft suspension or not, rather than the voices in their head telling them what the cars are like. As if that will ever happen! People like to remain hopeless. As an owner, I feel competent to judge and criticize the new ones compared to the one I own. The average opinionated internet scribe who has no experience of them, I laugh at.