1998 Subaru Legacy Gt Wagon 4-door 2.5l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Subaru ups US sales projections to 500k units

Subaru is going absolutely gangbusters so far in 2014, with growing year-over-year sales every month this year adding to the streak of 33 consecutive months. The prognosis is so positive that the Japanese brand is revising its 2014 forecast to 500,000 vehicles or more, from a previous estimated 460,000. If it reaches the goal, it would be the first time that the automaker hit the half-million mark here.
Subaru has been growing steadily in the US for a while now. Annual sales have increased for the past five consecutive years with 2014 not indicating for that to change. For August alone, the company moved 50,246 vehicles, up 22.37 percent year-over-year, and the business proclaimed it as the best month in its history.
According to Subaru, it believes that the growth for the last two years has been fueled by the latest Forester and XV Crosstrek last year and the new Legacy and Outback this year. "The market is telling us that we are delivering products that consumers want at the right prices," said Thomas J. Doll, president and chief operating officer at Subaru of America. Scroll down to read the company's full announcement.

Subaru turns a WRX STI into a bobsled and (barely) makes it work

When asked how confident he felt of a successful full run down the St. Moritz-Celerina Olympic Bobrun in his specially prepared Subaru WRX STI, professional rally and stunt driver Mark Higgins responded, "50/50." In reality, he was probably being generous. It wasn't supposed to be so death-defying. In fact, Subaru's original plan was to have Higgins make several runs down the icy slope, some with journalists in the passenger seat. We were among those who traveled all the way to Switzerland for the chance to experience an automotive bobsled ride. One look at the run's famous Horseshoe Corner was all it took for us to second-guess that idea. Well, that and our pesky sense of self preservation. Higgins, though, is one of those rare humans to have been born without that fear-of-death gene. Not only is the Manx driver a professional stuntman – his resume includes sequences for Daniel Craig's James Bond – he also won the British Rally Championship three times and is the four-wheeled record holder at the famed Isle of Man Snaefell Mountain Course. So, when Higgins says some sort of vehicular stunt has only half a chance at success, well, let's just say that most mortals would say something more akin to "a snowball's chance in hell." On the topic of snow and balls, it's worth noting that the timing of Subaru's bobsled run wasn't set by choice. The Olympic Bobrun hosts regular events every winter through late February or early March. Since the track at St. Moritz is the only run in the world without an artificial cooling system, warm weather means no sledding. Combine those two facts and you end up with a very narrow window in which Subaru could go about making the modified track and a WRX STI actually fit together. Enter the boffins at Prodrive. The British engineering firm first started modifying vehicles for racing in 1984. By 1990, Prodrive was focused on turning turbocharged Imprezas into championship winners for the likes of Colin McRae, Richard Burns, and Petter Solberg. So it comes as little surprise that Subaru turned back to Prodrive to figure out how to modify a 2015 WRX STI in a way that would make it survive the pounding it would sustain on a bob run. For the record, this isn't just any 2015 WRX STI. It's actually the same car Higgins used in 2014 to set a lap record at the Isle of Man.

California adapts ZEV mandate with PHEVs for smaller automakers

California is the nation's largest market for zero-emissions vehicles with over 100,000 of them estimated to be on the roads there. The state's goal is to keep that number growing every year. To that end, the California Air Resources Board is now tweaking its rules in a way that might not boost ZEVs but could mean more plug-in hybrids for the Golden State. Jaguar Land Rover, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Subaru, and Volvo asked for an exemption to the state's zero-emissions vehicle mandate last year due to their relatively small development budgets compared to larger automakers. CARB denied their request but did craft a compromise, according to Automotive News. Rather than being required to offer a ZEV in the state, companies with an annual global revenue of less than $40 billion, like those in this group, may instead sell plug-in hybrids to earn ZEV credits. The companies aren't completely off the hook, though. If these plug-in hybrids don't earn enough credits, the corporations must buy them on the market to make up the difference. Automakers with popular electric models like Nissan and Tesla have made a big business through this trading system by selling their surplus to rivals. Tesla alone pocketed $51 million in the first quarter from this part of its business, according to Automotive News. The changes to the regulations also aren't set in stone, yet. CARB is meeting in 2016 and could adjust things further at that time. Related Video: News Source: Automotive News - sub. req. via Hybrid CarsImage Credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images Government/Legal Green Jaguar Land Rover Mazda Mitsubishi Subaru Volvo Emissions Electric Hybrid California zev credits zero emissions vehicle