Subaru has achieved
successive annual sales records in the United States for the past six
years, and there’s no reason to believe it won’t set a seventh record
this year. While the company’s surprising growth seems boundless, its
top executive, Yasuyuki Yoshinaga, has confirmed plans to cap global
sales at 1.1 million units a year. “Many companies try to be bigger or
sell more vehicles. If Subaru does the same thing, we will lose our
characteristics,” explained the executive in an interview with trade
journal Automotive News. That means Subaru won’t follow its rivals’ lead
and build new assembly plants all around the globe. However, it will
increase the size of its factory in Lafayette, Indiana, by the end of
next year in order to accommodate production of the next-generation
Impreza and of an all-new seven-seater crossover that’s being designed
exclusively for the U.S. Recent rumors claim the slow-selling BRZ coupe
(pictured) will be axed at the end of its life cycle, but Yoshinaga
confirmed that a second-generation model has already been approved for
production. The model will again be co-developed with industrial partner
Toyota, a statement that seemingly puts an end to the reports that
find the next FR-S will borrow its platform from the Mazda Miata. The
two companies still haven’t decided precisely when the rear-wheel drive
twins will hit the market.
Related: Subaru will build more STI-tuned models
Finally, Yoshinaga confirmed that Subaru is busily developing its first
production-bound plug-in hybrid model. Although the company is eager to
build cleaner cars, it will only sell the still-nameless gas-electric
model in countries where it needs to comply with zero-emissions
regulations. In other words, the hybrid’s biggest market by a long shot
will be the United States. We don’t know what model line it will be
based on, and we’ll have to be patient as we seek to find out because
it won’t go on sale until the 2018 model year.
Also watch: Top 10 Most Expensive Cars in the World (Sept 2015) Please enable Javascript to watch this video
Subaru
has achieved successive annual sales records in the United States for
the past six years, and there’s no reason to believe it won’t set a
seventh record this year. While the company’s surprising growth seems
boundless, its top executive, Yasuyuki Yoshinaga, has confirmed plans to
cap global sales at 1.1 million units a year.
That
means Subaru won’t follow its rivals’ lead and build new assembly
plants all around the globe. However, it will increase the size of its
factory in Lafayette, Indiana, by the end of next year in order to
accommodate production of the next-generation Impreza and of an all-new seven-seater crossover that’s being designed exclusively for the U.S.
Recent rumors
claim the slow-selling BRZ coupe (pictured) will be axed at the end of
its life cycle, but Yoshinaga confirmed that a second-generation model
has already been approved for production. The model will again be
co-developed with industrial partner Toyota, a statement that seemingly
puts an end to the reports that
find the next FR-S will borrow its platform from the Mazda Miata. The
two companies still haven’t decided precisely when the rear-wheel drive
twins will hit the market.
Finally,
Yoshinaga confirmed that Subaru is busily developing its first
production-bound plug-in hybrid model. Although the company is eager to
build cleaner cars, it will only sell the still-nameless gas-electric
model in countries where it needs to comply with zero-emissions
regulations. In other words, the hybrid’s biggest market by a long shot
will be the United States. We don’t know what model line it will be
based on, and we’ll have to be patient as we seek to find out because
it won’t go on sale until the 2018 model year.
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