Subaru Liberty may be axed

The slide in passenger car sales in Australia could claim the Subaru Liberty as a victim.

A nameplate that’s been on sale in Australia since late 1989 and endured through six generations, the medium sedan is no guarantee to continue on when the next Liberty launches.

Prototypes of that car have already been spotted testing in the USA. It is expected to make its world debut in 2019, which would potentially put it on sale in Australia in 2020 if it gets the green light.

And that is very much an “if” at this stage.

“We haven’t made a final decision whether we will bring another one in or not,” admitted Subaru Australia managing director Colin Christie.

“We don’t have to make that decision for another 12 months.”

In its first full year on sale in Australia in 1990, the first-gen Liberty sold 5221 examples. In 2017, in a market that has almost doubled in size, just 2023 were sold.

“The medium car segment is obviously extremely challenging,” conceded Christie.

The wagon version of the Liberty has already been axed, dropping out of the line-up when the current generation was introduced in 2014.

The decline of Liberty sales is indicative of the entire passenger car segment, which is now clearly outsold by SUVs.

They have helped Subaru’s growth in Australia immensely via models such as the Forester, XV and the Outback, which is a Liberty wagon with cosmetic changes and more suspension travel.

The Outback, which found 11,340 Australian buyers in 2017, has to some extent carried the Liberty in recent years because they are non-identical mechanical twins.

But from the next generation both models will migrate to the latest Subaru Global Platform, following on from the Impreza, XV and newly-launched Forester.

That could make dropping the Liberty from the line-up easier.

“The Liberty-Outback were built on a specific platform, so moving forward as everything moves on to the global platform then, while they still share a lot of similarities around engines and a whole series of things, the cars do become quite separate -- they don’t need to be as linked,” said Christie.

“So, you don’t need to take one because you are taking the other. You will be able to take one without the other.”

Even if a new Liberty does come here, the 191kW 3.6-litre boxer six-cylinder that’s been at the top of the Liberty (and Outback) line-up is expected to die, most likely replaced by either the 194kW 2.4-litre boxer four from the Ascent three-row SUV sold elsewhere or a new 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine.

“I don’t think that decision has been made about that engine [six-cylinder], especially for our market at least,” said Christie.

“Obviously, engines are changing dramatically and [there is] the question of going to hybrids and downsized turbo engines … there is a whole series of different technologies coming out.

“But I don’t think there has been a specific question about whether six continues or not.”

Diesel is also a question mark in the next Outback as Subaru swings towards petrol-electric hybrids and even battery electric vehicles.

“Diesel Outback [for the next generation] hasn’t been finalised as yet,” Christie said.

“There is still appetite for diesel in some markets, but whether we take another diesel is a question we have to work through in preparation for the next generation.

“But I think Subaru has made it clear that its focus moving forward is hybrid and then moving into electric vehicles.

“So the role diesel plays going forward is still up in the air.”

Subaru is the latest brand to debate its future in the medium passenger car segment. Cars to disappear in recent years include the Citroen C5, Holden Malibu and Insignia, Nissan Altima and Suzuki Kizashi.

Honda debated the future of the Accord here before deciding to continue on with the new model sold elsewhere, while Kia has indulged in some public hand-wringing about Optima.

Despite a 40 per cent sales slump in 2018, Ford Australia says it remains committed to its flagship passenger sedan, the Mondeo, and will release a facelifted version of the existing fourth-generation model next year.

Beyond that, the future of Mondeo remains unclear globally following Ford USA’s decision to axe the Fusion, as it’s known in North America.

Australia’s mainstream medium car segment has declined by almost 30 per cent to August this year, in large part because the segment-leading Toyota Camry is down by more than 35 per cent following the release of a new imported model when local manufacturing ceased last year.