Subaru banking on model onslaught to reverse sales slide

Subaru Australia has experienced a decrease in sales over the past two years, but with multiple new models and powertrain options continuing to arrive it's confident that brighter days are just around the corner.

While the brand's overall sales in 2025 were only 3.9 per cent down on 2024 (39,005 sales against 40,604), its figure so far in 2026 is more concerning. Sales for the first five months of 2026 are down 22.1 per cent on the same period last year, with overall numbers down by nearly 4000 units.

It's also still a far cry from the brand's strong performance in 2023, when it recorded more than 46,000 deliveries. Recent sales trends have seen it slip behind the likes of Geely, Omoda Jaecoo, and BMW on Australia's sales charts.

But as new model updates and nameplates have been launched – namely the new-generation Forester and Outback, a heavily updated Solterra EV, and the new Trailseeker EV – and with more on the way, Inchcape (Subaru's local distributor) managing director Blair Read says it's all going according to plan.

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"What you’ve seen over the last couple of years of Subaru [sales] performance is, first of all, rationalisation of the range," Mr Read told media at the Trailseeker's local launch.

"We went through a period of Liberty exiting the range, we had a pause on STI; we had rationalisation of the range. What you are now seeing is the years of work that have gone into preparing the Subaru range across multiple powertrains for the next phase of the brand."

Indeed, the past 12 months have seen significant activity from Subaru in Australia. It launched the new-generation Forester in 2025 with Toyota-derived hybrid technology and followed up with a heavily updated Solterra EV that offered greater driving range, more power, and lower prices.

It then introduced the new-generation Outback, followed by the wagon-like Trailseeker EV, and confirmed the smaller Uncharted EV would also arrive in mid-2026.

"One thing I pose to our dealer network is, when was the last time Subaru launched two new nameplates in the same year? It was probably Brumby and L Series, I’m not old enough to go back and check that," Mr Read said.

"But one of the performance challenges over time for the brand has been that it’s focused on a number of core models: Forester, Outback, [and] Crosstrek as the core of the range. In the last six months, you’ve seen huge expansion."

Alongside its Australian announcements, there has also been plenty of news from Subaru in Japan. An updated hybrid version of the Crosstrek was detailed in late 2024, sporting a hybrid powertrain similar to what's offered locally in the Forester, and, more recently, a hybrid version of the Layback wagon was launched.

The brand has also teased three new manual-equipped models overseas to reinvigorate its performance lineup, which includes an as-yet-unseen hatchback. In the US, Subaru will launch a three-row SUV called the Getaway.

None of those recently revealed models have been confirmed yet for Australia.

"[There’s been] strong hybrid with more to come on that, now three EV models, as opposed to two years ago with zero EV models, expansion across the range and a number of nameplates," Mr Read said.

"That has been a deliberate strategy over the last four to five years to refresh the model range for where customer trends and where product trends are going in the industry."

In any case, Subaru Australia is set to end 2026 with nine models in its showrooms, five of which will be hybrid or fully electric. That's up from seven models in 2025, which included three electrified options.

That will be important in its efforts to compete with fast-moving Chinese manufacturers, which have rapidly increased their presence in Australia's top-10 best-selling brands.

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