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Subaru forecasts 540k US sales in 2015, 940k worldwide

In the past few years, growth for Subaru in the US has only been rocketing upward. The company went from selling 336,441 cars in 2012 to 513,693 in 2014, easily beating its own forecast. In fact with a 21 percent gain, the region was the automaker's largest expanding major market worldwide. The brand sees no reason for the strong inertia to stop in 2015 and thinks it can do even better. It actually looks like North America is going to play an even more important role in Subaru's future. According to the company's 2015 forecast, Japanese sales are expected to fall eight percent this year to an estimated 156,000 units. Meanwhile, growth in the US is estimated to climb to the tune of about five percent to a total of 540,000 vehicles. Canada should help things with a seven percent boost to 45,000 cars. The numbers mean that of the automaker's record 940,000 forecasted sales in 2015, roughly 62 percent could come from North America. To cope with the growing demand, Subaru intends to boost worldwide production and build 920,000 vehicles in 2015, an all-time record of it happens. Further out, the company's SIA factory in Indiana is getting an 18,000-unit expansion "during the first half period of FYE2017" to keep up with Legacy and Outback orders. Clearly, Subaru intends to gain even more ground in the coming years. Read below for its full forecasts. FHI Announces Production and Retail Sales Plans for CY2015 Automobiles Jan 16,2015 Tokyo, January 16, 2015 - Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (FHI), the manufacturer of Subaru automobiles, today announced its annual production and retail sales plans for calendar year 2015. 1.Production (Units in Thousands) 2014 Result '14 vs '13 2015 Plan '15 vs '14 Japan Production 696 +9% 700 +1% Overseas Production *1 193 +14% 220 +14% Global Production 889 +10% 920 +4% < Japan Production > In prospect of strong sales of the new Legacy and Outback being launched worldwide, Japan production is projected to be 700,000 units, which will be an all-time record for the 3rd consecutive year. < Overseas Production > With expected high demand for the new Legacy and Outback, overseas production is projected to be 220,000 units, which will be an all-time record for the 2nd consecutive year. < Global Production > Global production is projected to be 920,000 units which will be an all-time record for the 4th consecutive year. 2.

2019 Subaru Forester First Drive Review | Hidden treasure

ASHEVILLE, N.C — Forester sales have been nothing short of spectacular for Subaru. The fourth-generation Forester sold more than double what the first three generations sold ... combined. It makes up about 20 percent of Subaru's current U.S. sales, and 58 percent globally. Clearly, Subaru has been the right thing with the Forester to bring people over to the brand, and to keep them there. So why mess with a good thing? Subaru hasn't, really. The all-new 2019 Forester looks remarkably familiar – slightly tweaking a few things to refine the experience without alienating buyers. They improved aero while maintaining huge windows. And even the small-outside-big-inside formula that makes it such a practical choice was improved, gaining interior volume with a minimal increase in length and width. Peel away the sheet metal, though, and there have been significant changes for the Forester, which shares few parts with the outgoing generation. The updated engine gets direct injection. The reworked frame, using more high-strength steel, means it has 1.4 times the impact absorption of the previous car. The geometry of the four-wheel independent suspension has been optimized for stability, the steering retuned, the transmission reworked for better power, efficiency, handling, comfort and safety. So, can this visually familiar Forester really feel all that different going down the road? More importantly, do we like it better? We headed into the Blue Ridge mountains around Asheville N.C. in order to find out. Our first vehicle for the day was the new Sport trim, with no added performance and some funkier design cues. Somehow, matte-ish orange accents have become the go-to hue to represent "sport." They stand out most around the air vents and gear shifter, in the contrast stitching and here and there in the instrument panel. The busy mix of materials and colors might find favor in youthful buyers, but were a bit too flashy for our taste. Loud as that interior might be visually, sonically the Forester is quite the opposite. We kept the radio off to enjoy, finally, a Forester interior in which we could hold a quiet conversation at highway speed. Depending on the surface, we heard some tire noise, but muted compared to Foresters — and tons of Subarus — of generations past. In normal, calm driving, the new Forester behaves like a more premium vehicle – calm and comfortable.

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.