Subaru to Hit American Sales Target Two Years Early

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. expects its Subaru brand to achieve its U.S. annual sales goal of 350,000 vehicles by the 12-month period ending in March 2014 two years ahead of schedule, The Nikkei reports.

That volume would mark an 86% surge over five years.

President Yasuyuki Yoshinaga tells the Japanese newspaper the brand will get a boost from strong sales of the Impreza compact car and the upcoming next-generation Forester crossover vehicle.

Yoshinaga predicts that Subaru's U.S. sales which jumped 29% to 164,900 vehicles in first six months of the current fiscal year will set a full-year record of 330,000 units.

FHI is mulling an increase in its North American production capacity by mid-decade and hopes to make a decision by year-end, according to Yoshinaga. He doesn't specify whether the company is considering erecting a new factory or expanding its existing assembly plant in Lafayette, Ind.

That facility makes the Legacy midsize sedan, Outback wagon and Tribeca crossover vehicle. In 2007, the then-underutilized factory also began building the Camry midsize sedan for Toyota Motor Corp., which owns 16.5% of FHI.

Since Subaru's U.S. sales began to soar in 2010, FHI has boosted annual capacity at the Indiana plant from 100,000 vehicles to 156,000. The company said it June it would spend $75 million over two years to hike capacity there to 180,000 units per year.