Carsales Staff•12 May 2014
NEWS
Subaru moving to common platform?
Media outlet reports new platform under development for C/D-segment Subaru modelsAmerican industry journal Automotive News has reported that Fuji Heavy Industries, the manufacturer that builds Subaru cars, intends to develop a new common vehicle platform and continue its work on more fuel efficient drivetrains.
The new platform was announced by FHI president Yasuyuki Yoshinaga, while presenting the company's record earnings for the (Japanese) financial year just ended.
According to the publication, the new platform, which is to be named the Subaru Global Platform, will reach production in 2016. It will eventually underpin Subaru's range of cars from Impreza to Outback, and is one element of the company's Prominence 2020 business plan. The new plan succeeds the company's previous Motion-V plan, covering the period from 2011 to 2016.
Subaru issued a press release last week, outlining the new business plan, which will take Subaru through to the year 2020, as the name suggests. The plan will focus on improving the company's competitiveness and optimising its business structure. According to the release, FHI (Fuji Heavy Industries – maker of Subaru cars) wants to remain a relatively small car maker, but "a high-quality company with distinctive strengths".
Under the new plan, FHI will enhance Subaru's reputation for performance safety, design, environmental considerations, quality/service and communications. Building a strong business structure, the company reasons, will result from an enhanced product range focusing more on SUVs. By the time the plan expires, FHI expects to be building and selling over 1.1 million vehicles around the world – with North America still the most important market, followed by Japan and China. That equates to a 20 per cent lift in productivity, the press release reveals.
The company is already embarked on increasing global production to the necessary level by announcing it will cease to build Toyota's Camry at the Subaru plant in Indiana, USA. Currently the American plant builds 170,000 Subarus and around 100,000 Camrys, according to Automotive News. The company intends to raise plant capacity to 400,000 by 2017.
Pictured: Subaru VIZIV 2 concept
Tags
Subaru
Car News
Written byCarsales Staff
Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalists
Related articles
Disclaimer
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
Love every move.
Buy it. Sell it.Love it.
®Contact
Advertise with us
Local marketplaces
International marketplaces
Scan to download the carsales app
Want more info? Here’s our app landing page
App Store and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. Google Play and the Google Play logo
are trademarks of Google LLC.