$28,833 Msrp Outback Limited Awd Automatic Heated Leather Moonroofs on 2040-cars

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Driving the Ford Explorer ST and Volvo V60 Cross Country | Autoblog Podcast #613

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by West Coast Editor James Riswick. First they talk about driving the Volvo V60 Cross Country and Ford Explorer ST, with some thoughts about the Subaru Outback and Super Bowl commercials as well. Then they dive into the mailbag, answering questions and following up on the outcomes of previous "Spend My Money" segments. Finally they wrap things off with a new "Spend My Money," in which they help a listener pick a new car that will accommodate a new, tiny family member without sucking all the fun out of driving. Autoblog Podcast #613 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars We're Driving: 2020 Volvo V60 Cross Country 2020 Ford Explorer ST 2020 Subaru Outback Super Bowl ads Mail bag Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Subaru posts 15.7% rise in fill-year operating profit

TOKYO — Subaru on Monday posted a 15.7% rise in annual operating profit in the fiscal year that ended in March as it recovered from a raft of product recalls last year, but warned that sales of its cars would take a hit from the coronavirus outbreak. Profit rose to 210.3 billion yen ($1.96 billion) for the year just ended, from 181.7 billion yen a year earlier under international financial reporting standards. It exceeded a consensus estimate of 204.7 billion yen profit drawn from 17 analysts polled by Refinitiv. Global automakers are struggling to recover from the coronavirus, which has pummeled car sales as shelter-in-place orders in many countries clobbered car demand, while plant workers had been left unable to commute to work. Though Subaru and its rivals have begun to restart vehicle factories, anaemic demand, supply chain disruption and social distancing measures at factories are expected to limit output in the coming months. "We saw a limited impact of the coronavirus on our results for the year just ended," Chief Executive Tomomi Nakamura told a teleconference. "But although we have resumed production this month, we are only operating one shift in Japan, and the pace of U.S. output has slowed significantly ... we see many uncertainties related to the virus." As a result, the maker of the Outback and Forester SUV crossovers declined to give an earnings forecast for the current business year, while it slashed its year-end dividend for the year just ended by 61% to 28 yen per share. Some analysts believe industry-wide global auto sales could slump by a third this year and that any recovery will be slow and patchy as job losses and reduced incomes weigh on consumer spending. Subaru, which earns two-thirds of its vehicle sales from the United States, acknowledged that it may take a hit in the coming months as its biggest market struggles get the coronavirus pandemic under control. The automaker saw a 3% rise in global vehicle sales in the year to March to 1.03 million units, bouncing back from last year, when a defective steering component and measures to improve inspection tests had stopped output for two weeks at its sole assembly plant in Japan. The process to restart its U.S. plants would take time, Subaru said, and it expects to produce only around 5,000 units this month, a fraction of last year's 40,000. The virus would result in a global production hit of around 150,000 units, it added.

Subaru sells 2 millionth Outback in U.S.

Subaru just sold its 2 millionth Outback in the U.S. The Outback is Subaru's most popular vehicle, and the brand's sales growth in recent years means it took far less time to reach the 2 million mark as it did to sell the first million (from 1995 to 2011). Currently in its fifth generation, the Outback is built in Lafayette, Ind., and the 2 millionth example was sold at Subaru Pacific in Hawthorne, Calif. Andrew Simpson is the new owner (that's him in the center in the photo below), and a host of Subaru's top executives were there to close the deal and to give Simpson a few gifts the buyer of Outback No. 1,999,999 apparently didn't get. Best of all, there was a charitable donation to the Grades of Green program on his behalf from the automaker's environmental philanthropy arm, Subaru Loves the Earth. The second millionth Outback is worth a look back 24 years down the long rutted trail it has traveled, with bragging rights over SUVs strewn along the way. It all started in 1995, with "Crocodile Dundee" Paul Hogan offering "a ripper deal": This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Hogan did Outback commercials for years. But this may be the first instance of dogs as Subaru pitchmen: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Here's a pretty great extended commercial with Daniel Tosh, "proud Subaru owner." For once he's not kidding. He even held a contest on "Tosh 2.0" to give his 2011 Outback away to a viewer: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This one is wrapped in a Snuggie: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. In recent years, in the "Love, it's what makes a Subaru a Subaru" era, there has been a focus on the Outback's reputation for safety. This ad pulls a heartstring: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. And finally, a toast from the Barkleys (in "two completely different voices"), to you, Subaru Outback, and your many loyal customers, including the 2 millionth: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.