Subaru for instance plans to establish a bridge head in Russia with its new Legacy, as a way to compensate losses coming from the United States and Japan, Autonews reported. This move is planned as a first step towards a more global role of Subaru.
Until now, the company has focused its all-wheel drive cars sales in the region on the Forester, but is confident that now, the bigger engine fitted on the Legacy may empty some pockets in both Russia and across the globe.
"The Russian market is tough right now, but we think the new Legacy will be more competitive in emerging markets," Fuji Industries CEO Ikuo Mori said at the car's launch in Tokyo last week.
Despite the fact that Subaru's sales in Russia dropped no less than 43 percent in the four months of 2009, the company hopes to sell a bit less than half of the 15,000 units target in Russia and the emerging markets. Out of the 15,000 units/month, half of them are still expected to be sold in the United States.
As for the Lecagy, Subaru plans to increase sales by at least 28 percent globally, amounting to a target of 157,000 units. That's about 30 percent of the manufacturer's total models to be sold this year.
The odds are good for this to happen, analysts say. "Based on prices already announced in the United States, price competitiveness looks good and we see little risk of a weak reception," Tatsuo Yoshida, UBS auto analyst was quoted as saying by the source.
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