Subaru Plants Struggling To Keep Up With The Demand For The Outback Wagon
All car makers would want to have Subaru?s
main problem ? which is keeping up with the high demand for a product.
The Outback wagon has had tremendous success ever since it debuted last
summer.
It?s no wonder that Subaru got the highest percentage US sales increase of any brand last year. In fact, Subaru is expected to continue to outpace the market for the rest of 2010. Starting December, Subaru
of Indiana Automotive has boosted the speed of production at its plant
for two times now. There are plans to increase the pace again in April
and another time in July, with each push standing for a 5%-6% increase
in line speed.
But
Nomura said that there aren?t any guarantees that these changes are
sufficient. There were only three brands that increased US sales in 2009
? Kia, Hyundai, and Subaru (which went up 15% in a market that dropped
21%). For the first two months of 2010, Subaru is up 33%, with dealers
having sold 11,657 Outbacks in January and February 2010.
Production
of the Outback began last summer in Indiana, along with a
new-generation Legacy sedan. Subaru of Indiana?s current production rate
has an output of about 13,000 Outbacks, Legacys and Tribeca SUVs each
month. Dealers continue to hike up their demand. While Legacy sales
dropped by almost a third from the first two months of 2009, the Outback
demand surged. In fact, Subaru production at Lafayette has more than
doubled compared with the first two months of 2009.
Information provided by: http://www.4wheelsnews.com/subaru-plants-struggling-to-keep-up-with-the-demand-for-the-outback-wagon/