It’s been a good year for the North American auto industry. But for Subaru, it’s been a great year.
It’s been a good year for the North American auto industry. But for Subaru, it’s been a great year.
Demand has been so high, the company is struggling to produce cars fast enough to keep dealerships stocked—something the auto blog Jalopnik has affectionately dubbed the looming “Subarapture.”
Subaru’s U.S. sales were up 25 per cent year-over-year in April, and the company is on course to exceed its 380,000-unit goal for 2016 this fiscal year. Subaru Canada sold 3,603 cars in May, a year-over-year increase of 28.6 per cent.
Yasuyuki Yoshinaga, the CEO of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., which makes Subarus, told the Wall Street Journal that if the trajectory continues, “We’ll face a supply shortage.”
The popularity of the redesigned 2014 Forester, its compact SUV, is the main reason for the increase in sales. With high safety ratings, fuel economy and good reviews, it appears to have hit the sweet spot in one of the industry’s most popular segments.
But Subaru, whose all-wheel-drive wagons have long had a cult following, still has a long way to go to rival top automakers: General Motors’ U.S. sales in May, by comparison, were over 250,000.