Forester Shines After Challenging Year

SYDNEY – Jan 5, 2012: Subaru’s Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive Forester has dominated annual Compact Sports Utility Vehicle sales for the fourth consecutive year, according to official VFACTS figures released today.

Sales of 13,142 Foresters were down by 10.3 per cent, due entirely to supply chain issues after the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

But it wasn’t enough to take Forester off the top sales slot in one of the most competitive vehicles sales categories.

Nick Senior, Managing Director, Subaru Australia, said: “Forester continues to capture the attention of Australian customers, with its great combination of family appeal, durability and recreational ability.

“The choice of engines from normally aspirated to turbo and diesel gives added customer options and we continue to refine the range, highlighted by the introduction of the sporty S-Edition in 2011.”

Subaru total annual sales of 34,011 were ahead of the company’s revised sales objective after the natural disasters in Japan. However, supply issues removed the ability to set another brand sales record.

Mr Senior said: “It’s worth noting that we achieved a record quarter of sales up to the end of March and were potentially on track for another record sales year, but we were overtaken by events.

He added: “We are very greatful to Fuji Heavy Industries, the maker of Subaru vehicles, for their hard work in maintaining heavily impacted supply lines after March, also to our dealer network for their cooperation in allocating cars to suit customer needs wherever they could and, of course, our customers for their patience.

“We are now very optimistic about the future as we’re about to launch our new XV sub-compact SUV, followed by new generation Impreza, then the BRZ sports car around mid-year. So despite the challenges of 2011, the New Year is looking bright.”