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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 is America's third most off-roaded brand

When you think of iconic off-road brands, where does Subaru fall on your radar? Somewhere in the middle? Perhaps near the bottom? Don't worry, you're not alone. Until recently spending some time in Bend, OR, where we drove the all-new 2015 Subaru Outback, we never really pegged the Japanese automaker to be a highly lauded brand among off-road enthusiasts, despite many of the company's products actually being quite capable when the going gets rough.
But the data says we're wrong. According to a 2013 J.D. Power study, Subaru vehicles have some of the highest use off road compared to other brands - of course "off road" here just means anything not on a paved road, so even gravel trails and tame two-tracks count in these statistics. Nearly 29.5 percent of its cars are used on trails and dirt roads, with only the Ram and Jeep brands besting that statistic, at 30.2 and 31.0 percent, respectively. Said another way, Subaru sold 424,683 vehicles in the US in 2013, meaning that some 125,281 saw off-road use. Mainstream brands like GMC, Ford and Chevrolet all trail Subaru, and even Land Rover comes in at less than 20 percent.
Some 34.7 percent of Outbacks are taken off paved roads, according to J.D. Power data.

2019 Subaru Forester Long-Term Update | It's gold wheel time!

Our long-term 2019 Subaru Forester is heading into the new year with a new set of shoes. Subaru’s all-wheel-drive system works perfectly fine, but all-wheel power is no replacement for a set of winter tires. And so our search for winter rubber began. However, the search didnÂ’t take that long, as a set of wheels and tires that fit our Forester happened to be laying around Autoblog HQ collecting dust. The wheels just so happened to be lightweight, gold 17-inch Sparco wheels we had previously fitted to our 2015 Subaru WRX long-term tester. Imagine our glee when we pulled these bad boys out of storage.  ItÂ’s only fitting that the blue Subaru in our long-term test fleet is also fitted with gold wheels as a tribute to all the gold-wheeled Subaru rally legends. The new Forester is nothing like a WRX or STI, but this setup has us smiling every time we walk out to the car. Take a nice, long scroll through the gallery above. We canÂ’t stop obsessing over how much better they make the new Forester look. Maybe a special edition package Â… just a thought, Subaru. Mounted on these wheels are new Michelin X-Ice winter tires. WeÂ’ve already driven it through a couple snowfalls in the midwest region, and the tires make this crossover a nearly unstoppable winter force. We hope to get some serious snow this winter that allows us to really take advantage of the new tires and the ForesterÂ’s high 8.7-inch ground clearance. More on that and the ForesterÂ’s performance to come. Unfortunately, the spare set of wheels we had lying around didnÂ’t have tire pressure monitoring sensors for the Forester sitting next to them. Until the little yellow light in the dash starts annoying us, weÂ’re going to forego the expense of buying a new TPMS at the Subaru dealer — we imagine many owners skip the extra $150 or so for the sensors and check their tire pressure the old-fashioned way with winter wheels, too. After all, the tire pressure gauge still exists, and it works splendidly. Watch out for another Forester update soon, as we get into some of the things weÂ’ve liked and disliked over the past few months. Related video: