The case for diesel Subarus

The Australian new-car market is currently undergoing a series of seismic shifts. One of those is the small but significant change in the perception of diesel passenger cars here in Australia.

Subaru is yet to establish whether offering diesel engines in its local product range can expand its market share substantially. And it must be said, the importer's innately conservative view is understandable, when it's enjoying record sales for Impreza in year-to-date VFACTS figures.

Furthermore, the Forester is the top-selling SUV of any kind in the country and the Tribeca is virtually out of stock. In anticipation of the new Liberty and Outback, the importer has successfully run down its stock of the superseded models and the company is facing "severe stock shortages", according to local MD, Nick Senior.

So why worry about diesel variants, when sales of petrol-engined vehicles are exceeding projections and introducing the new-to-Subaru engine technology might adversely affect the brand image in Australia?

The uptake of diesel passenger cars in Australia has been sudden, driven by more competition in the marketplace and the escalation of fuel prices, plus increasing sensitivity to the needs of the environment.

Takeshi Tachimori, the Chief General Manager of Subaru's Product and Portfolio planning division outlined for the Carsales Network just how quickly the market has moved in the direction of diesel passenger cars.

"When we started the development of Liberty and Outback, there was no plan for diesel in the Australian market," he said, explaining that it was only decided as recently as a year ago to offer the company's diesel boxer engine in the Outback SUV.

"We had almost finished the development of the Australian vehicles," he continued.

"We have research from Subaru Australia -- people want to have a diesel model."

That prompted Subaru's head office to ask the local arm whether diesel was "in demand in the Australian market" and the Aussies responded that "there was some sign in the market" of interest.

The diesel in the Outback SUV is a safe bet, since SUVs and diesels go together. Subaru expects to sell a significant volume of diesel Outback variants when the vehicle is introduced here in November.

"We've started to study whether we can put the diesel [engine] in the Australian model [range]. It's not so difficult, because we have diesel models in the European market," says Tachimori.

"So first, we're going to [try it] with the Outback. We can [sell] a diesel Liberty or a diesel Forester if there [are] customers' requests."

Tachimori agreed that the Outback diesel will be a test of the business case for a compression-ignition powerplant in the Subaru range, describing that variant as "the best fitting vehicle with a diesel engine".

Should the market respond favourably, the next step could be a Forester diesel, followed by diesel variants in the Liberty range. For the present, there's an obstacle in the way of a diesel-engined Impreza for Australia. That is the diesel-powered small car's Euro IV status.

"Right now, [these] new Legacy and Outback models in the European market -- we're going to launch [them] with Euro V diesel [engines], but on the Impreza model, it's still Euro IV," said Tachimori.

"You can have the UK-spec Euro IV model, right-hand drive," says Takeshi, but the implication seems clear; Subaru would rather the Impreza comply with the higher emissions standard before it's introduced in Australia -- assuming it ever makes it here. 

As it stands, the Impreza diesel -- although available in Europe -- has not been homologated for Australian Design Rules (ADR) type certification, so your friendly Subaru dealer can't just order a diesel Impreza straight from the factory for you.

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