Beyond Official: A 12-Month-Long 40K Sales Streak Proves Subaru USA Is Mainstream

It’s official: Subaru is now routinely the seller of more than 40,000 new vehicles per month in the United States. That’s an impressive achievement considering that in 2013, the company averaged 35,390 monthly sales in what was the automaker’s best year ever. Between 2002 and 2012, Subaru USA averaged fewer than 19,000 monthly sales.

In each of the last twelve months, Subaru sales have shot past the 40,000-unit mark. Subaru USA had crested the 40K barrier twice in the previous seven months. But now all the brand’s best-ever performances have occurred in the recent past.

Last month, for example, was Subaru’s best-ever February.

The previous month was the best-ever January.

August of last year, when 50,246 Subarus were sold in the United States, represented Subaru’s best-ever month full stop, just one year after Subaru was touting best-ever results in August 2013.

In most months, the push past 40K hasn’t been even remotely incremental. Subaru volume jumped 21% in March 2014, for instance the month the streak began. Among volume brands – yes, Subaru is most definitely now a volume brand – only Jeep and Ram reported greater year-over-year improvements.

The year-over-year percentage improvements have consistently measured in excess of the market’s rate of growth, save for one month when Subaru grew at the same rate as the industry as a whole. The average YOY increase over the last 12 months? 21.3%.

2014’s 21% leap forward was bettered only by Mitsubishi’s 25% improvement, Ram’s 28% increase, Jeep’s 41% jump, and Maserati’s 171% (8175 units) increase. Subaru added 89,010 sales in 2014 after growing by 88,242 units in 2013 and 69,452 in 2012. Sales have increased in seven consecutive years.

Through the first two months of 2015, Subaru sales are up 21%, a gain of 14,261 units during the two lowest-volume auto sales month of the year following a gain of 12,083 units during the first two months of 2014.

All these impressive figures force the question: which vehicles are pushing Subaru forward? The answer is simple: nearly all of them. Defunct Tribeca and niche market BRZ aside, every Subaru is increasingly popular.

Consider just the last two months, a period in which YOY volume of the best-selling Outback jumped 34%, the next-best-selling Forester rose 5%, the XV Crosstrek was up 26%, non-WRX Imprezas rose 13%, Legacy volume increased 55%, and the WRX/STi jumped 44%.

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures.