Subaru of America retailers clamoring for more inventory should be in luck for 2020. The automaker has declared it a priority to increase the supply of its hotter-selling vehicles in the U.S. this year.
"We're going to have inventory. We're going to have ample production this year," said Patrick Wergin, executive vice president at Annapolis Cars in Maryland and chairman of the Subaru National Retailer Advisory Board. "We're going to have more supply to hit the targets we need to this year."
Despite the battle of low inventory levels in 2019, Subaru of America was able to set another sales record for the year.
Subaru is aiming for U.S. sales of 725,000 units in 2020, an increase of 3.6 percent over 2019's 700,117 sales.
Getting there will mean more Forester compact crossovers and Crosstrek subcompact crossovers, Wergin said.
In 2019, Subaru sold 180,179 Foresters, an increase of 5 percent, and 131,152 Crosstreks, a decline of 9.2 percent.
Late last year, Subaru CEO Tomomi Nakamura said some nameplates, such as the Crosstrek, had inventories as tight as 12 days. The company is now targeting an average stock of around 45 days.
"We will be revamping our inventory around that number," Nakamura told Automotive News. "We may be able to hit an overall average of 45 days' supply in the near future."
As Subaru has grown, it has also become more mainstream, Wergin said, noting that the brand is seeing success across a variety of age groups.
"You're getting the whole gamut of customers coming into showrooms looking for our products," he said.
"Subaru retailers have been resilient with the low days supply," Wergin said. "We're looking forward to getting more supply on the ground, and that will allow us to make more deals, because some of the low days supply on certain models, we've lost out to other brands."
