1997 Subaru Sambar Dias on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2015 Subaru Outback

"We like producing cars that are different." That's the company line trumpeted by several Subaru executives during the launch of the 2015 Outback - one of Fuji Heavy's most successful vehicles to date. Managing Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski accurately noted that while Subaru has never really found salvation with its mainstream sedans, it's the higher-riding, butcher offerings like the Outback and the Impreza-based XV Crosstrek that have been sales stars for the Japanese company. In 2013, for example, Subaru sold nearly three Outbacks for every Legacy it moved. And in 2014, the XV is on pace to outsell the Impreza upon which its based.
But Subarus have always been different, catering to unique customers that desire something a bit more special than your run-of-the-mill sedan or crossover. It's clearly worked, with Subaru having posted 30 months of year-over-year sales increases as of this writing. And even as the automaker's portfolio goes more mainstream, smoothing out its serially awkward styling and gunning for a larger market share here in the United States, that intrinsic Subaru differentiation is still baked in to each and every product.
It's that new Outback we're here to talk about today, a vehicle that's been comprehensively redesigned for the 2015 model year while not shaking up the formula that's made it successful since its inception in the mid-1990s, back when it (arguably) launched what we now know as the crossover utility vehicle segment. It's still plenty different - and plenty good, too.

Subaru says Forester logs 8,000 JDM orders in first month, 4x expectations

The 2014 Subaru Forester is not on sale yet here in the US, but it has been on sale in Japan since the middle of last month. In that time, Subaru says that the 8,149 customer orders it has received have more than quadrupled the original expectation of just 2,000 units.
To go along with these impressive orders so far, Subaru has also provided a breakdown of exactly what initial customers are ordering, and based on the numbers provided, it would appear that early customers are choosing well-equipped models. This includes almost 90 percent of all models being ordered with the new Subaru EyeSight system, and while close to two-thirds of the Forester models are equipped with the base 2.0-liter engine, the turbocharged Forester 2.0XT is the most popular individual trim level accounting for almost 40 percent of the orders out of four available trim levels. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues as more Foresters hit dealers, but this is definitely a good sign for the compact crossover right out of the gate.
There's a brief press release after the jump that gives a full breakdown of customer orders so far in Japan.

Subaru parent company celebrates 60th birthday

Fuji Heavy Industries, parent company of Subaru, celebrated its 60th anniversary on June 15. And while the company is largely known in the automotive world for its innovative all-wheel-drive cars, its history stretches far back before the days of symmetrical all-wheel drive, World Rally Blue and gold wheels.
FHI was founded, much like Germany's BMW, as an aircraft company. It went through a series of names before settling on its current title in 1953. And while its aerial successes were never quite as famous as Mitsubishi and its Zero, FHI did fly Japan's first jet-powered trainer. The same year, 1958 to be exact, it unveiled the iconic Subaru 360 minicar. While the 360 never quite caught on in the US (at least not with the fervor of the similarly laid-out Volkswagen Beetle), the small, affordable and simple Subie had a wide-ranging appeal across the island of Japan.
The rear-drive, rear-engined 360 was eventually joined by the 1000, Subaru's first front-engine, front-wheel-drive car. More importantly, the 1000 ushered in Subaru's use of a horizontally opposed engine. The Subaru Leone, which arrived in 1971, expanded on the 1000, by offering a combination we're all familiar with nowadays - all-wheel drive with a flat-four engine.