Subaru slashes Forester entry price

Subaru Australia has reduced the price of its cheapest Forester – the 2.0i manual – to $29,990 plus on-road costs as of February 1.

The $1000 price cut for the entry-level version of Subaru Australia’s top-selling model comes with no addition to the standard specifications, which have remained unchanged since the fourth-generation Forester was launched here in December 2012.

The move follows relatively lacklustre sales of the Mk4 Forester, the flagship XT version of which arrived here last February, in its first full year of sales.

Last year Subaru sold 13,649 Foresters, which was up 18.3 per cent on the previous year but less than its chief mid-size SUV rivals, including the Mazda CX-5 (20,129) and Toyota RAV4 (16,983).

The MkIII Forester was Australia’s top-selling SUV priced under $60,000 in 2011, before being usurped by the Nissan X-TRAIL, CX-5 and RAV4 in 2012.

A sub-$30,000 starting price for the Forester, which unlike all of its direct competitors remains exclusively all-wheel drive, brings it closer to the Ford Kuga (from $27,990), Holden Captiva 5 (from $27,990), Honda CR-V (from $27,490), Kia Sportage (from $25,490), CX-5 (from $27,880), Mitsubishi Outlander (from $27,640), X-TRAIL (from $28,490), Renault Koleos (from (27,490), Suzuki Grand Vitara five-door (from $$26,490) and RAV4 (from $28,490).

“Forester has long been a winning package for Subaru and our new entry-level price will further underline the formidable value that it represents, combined with its great reputation for safety, engineering, durability and retained value,” said Subaru Australia Managing Director, Nick Senior.

“The safety benefits and flexibility of all-wheel drive are another Forester plus as some other brands charge a considerable premium for the technology, way above their entry-level two-wheel drive variants.”

Read the latest news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...

Don't forget to register to comment on this article.