Subaru of America broke its yearly sales record with a month of the year to go. Sales for 2015 through November of more than 526,000 vehicles surpass the last annual sales record of 513,693 vehicles set in 2014. This is Subaru’s eighth year of sales increases and its seventh successive sales record in the United States. It days supply of unsold vehicles is under 20 n an industry where 60 is considered ideal.
Worrisome though are the remarks of Yasuyuki Yoshinaga, president of Subaru-maker Fuji Heavy Industries at the Tokyo Motor show last month. Yoshinaga told Automotive News that Subaru will cap maximum annual global production at 1.03 million vehicles. This can increase to 1.1 million vehicles using overtime. No new factories are foreseen.
Is this a bluff – while Subaru talks to political entities about a new plant, or a recognition that the business is cyclical and today’s good times are limited?
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
