Subaru's size is not an easy one for a mainstream manufacturer. It needs to be bigger or have a partner to share costs with. That partner is Toyota. It had a minor share until 2019, when the decision was made to increase it to 20% which it has now done.
From this has come model and technology sharing, which has been very helpful to Subaru. This doesn't mean it is now all beer and skittles as we shall see. Most of the data is from Subaru with a small amount garnered from various other sources.
The chart below shows several markets, the yellow colour showing a decrease. The data is in thousands. The period between 2019 and 2022 were down but Covid may have been a factor from 2020. Overall sales are the same from 2015 to 2024. 2025 is for eight months only so ignore the drop you see there.
Perhaps the most glaring issue is the USA. In 2025, 60% of sales were from that one country and for the eight months of 2025, 70%! I read somewhere that Subaru made about 300,00 vehicles in the US in 2024, which would be most of the overseas production. That's still less than half the 668,000 sold there.
Having so many eggs in one basket isn't ideal although I don't have a solution to that. It makes Subaru dependent on one market and as we have recently witnessed. nothing today is certain.
Most other markets have remained solid with the exception of China, which was thankfully not a big market anyway. Sales have dropped from 47,000 to 4,000 in 2024.
Photo source: Netcarshow.
A basic look at production shows percentages of where vehicles are made. In 2025, 71% of Subaru's total production was in Japan and in 2024 61%. Again, the 2025 figure is for eight months.
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