Subaru is confident it can lock in its seventh consecutive year of sales gains thanks to promising launch of the Ascent, a three-row sport-utility vehicle that has emerged as the Japanese automaker’s flagship since its debut earlier this summer.
Dominic Infante, Subaru’s director of communication, noted during a presentation in North Carolina for the first drive of the 2019 Subaru Forester, which is due in showrooms that through August, Subaru has posted 81 consecutive months of sales gains.
The Ascent has been a great success out of the gate, Infante noted. Subaru hasn’t been able to build them fast enough to satisfy demand. The Ascent is built at the Subaru assembly plant in Indiana and Infante said that Subaru has only 12 days of Ascent inventory in the hands of dealers.
(Get our first driving impressions of the new Subaru Ascent. Click Here for the story.)
The success of the Ascent, coming on the heels of Subaru’s steady increase in sales in recent years, virtually insures that Subaru is within striking distance of setting another record sales increase again this year.
The Ascent draws on Subaru’s history of delivering a solid driving experience while the Ascent also offers a spacious interior, comfortable and flexible seating options and a number of new safety, driver assist and in-vehicle technologies.
The new Ascent is built on a strengthened and extended version of the Subaru Global Platform with extensive use of high-strength steel and a focus on durability, rigidity and vibration resistance, making for a smoother ride under all types of conditions.
(Latest Subaru Viziv Tourer hints at next-generation Outback wagon. Click Here for more.)
The wheelbase is 113.8 inches long and comes with room for seven passengers and 19 standard cup and bottle holders, every passenger’s beverage is secure and close at hand.
It is powered by an all-new 2.4-liter Boxer engine and comes standard with a new version of Subaru’s high-torque CVT or continuously variable transmission. Subaru’s Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive system is also standard.
The interior of the new Ascent features ample space and soft-touch materials. Ascent joins three other Subaru models produced at the plant including the Outback, Legacy and Impreza.
(To see more about tSubaru’s Crosstrek becoming its first plug-in hybrid model, Click Here.)
SIA has tracked the growth of the company’s sales in the last five years, adding more than 2,000 employees to the team during that period. To prepare for Ascent and Impreza production. SIA invested nearly $1.5 billion during the past five years.
