Run-out Impreza to run out?

Subaru's small car games  is in a protracted run-out program, thanks to quake-affected supply

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A local launch for the next generation of Subaru Impreza has been postponed until early next year at the soonest, says the importer's National Corporate Affairs Manager, David Rowley. And in the meantime, the importer has to stretch out its dwindling supply of the current model.

"Impreza is now effectively in run-out mode, pretty much. We will get some additional stock of the current model to see us through to new generation," he told motoring.com.au this morning.

Whether that will be enough to see the importer through to the new car's introduction will be the $64,000 question. Car companies aim to run out all their stock ahead of a new model introduction, but in this case Subaru may have no choice. Rubbing salt into the wound, the importer was anticipating a huge year in retail sales prior to the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March.

"Bear in mind that the first three months of this year were our highest selling quarter ever," Rowley explained. "We've gone from that... into a situation where we haven't been able to achieve exactly what we wanted."

With the Impreza accounting for over 30 per cent of total Subaru sales last year, reduced stocks have had some impact in 2011. Volkswagen has pulled ahead of Subaru in the sales race this year, with the German importer selling nearly 1200 more cars, year to date, and Subaru selling nearly 2500 fewer. However, VW MD Anke Koeckler believes Subaru can recover its position.

"I think Subaru are doing it a bit tough... because of the tsunami..." she told motoring.com.au last week. "They might bounce back..."

While Rowley can't say when the new generation Impreza will lob, at least the news on that front is improving, he says.

"In terms of new model launches, we still don't have any definite dates — for Impreza — but it is certainly looking a lot more positive than it was a couple of months ago."

The interruption to supply was the direct result of an earthquake and tsunami that hit northern Japan back in March. Parts manufacturers located in the region were wiped out and the whole automotive industry has been struggling to obtain the necessary components ever since. Without the full gamut of parts, cars couldn't be built or shipped to markets such as Australia in the necessary quantities.

Subaru has been among the companies affected, but things are on the mend, says Rowley. The company's main factory at Gunma is located north-west of Tokyo, the Subaru exec says, and was not hit by the tsunami, but has been shortchanged for parts supply since, as have other car plants in the island nation.

"In terms of the factory, we are very lucky that there was no damage there and also in terms of the transport infrastructure between there and Yokohama, where the vast majority of our cars [are shipped]," Rowley wrapped up the situation in brief.

"We were very fortunate that we had one shipment that left Yokohama within three or four days of the earthquake, so that gave us a little bit of a buffer. There have been some difficult periods where we missed production runs, however Fuji have been very generous towards us. We are still the fourth biggest market overall, for them."

Supplies of Impreza were hardest hit by the disasters, but stocks of Forester have been in short supply also, as have Liberty and Outback to a lesser degree. Production of the Tribeca SUV, built at a US plant in Indiana, has not been constrained by a shortage of parts.

The importer and its dealer network are gradually regaining lost ground in the market.

"For some models [taking delivery is] a matter of weeks rather than months;" says Rowley.

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