Subaru Eager To Improve Quality As Sales Soar But Reliability Falls

As #Subaru sales continue to rise, the company has underlined the importance of quality control moving forward following a spate of recalls and a drop in its Consumer Reports reliability rating.

Speaking with Automotive News, the company's global executive Yasuyuki Yoshinaga said that Subaru is employing pre-emptive actions to help avoid future problems.

“We've always been focusing on quality, but we did have an increase in recalls. We've assigned a former FHI officer who was in charge of global quality assurance to oversee and enhance Subaru's quality in the U.S. market,” he said.

Subaru hasn't had a monthly sales decline in the United States since 2011 and is on target for its eighth-straight year of record sales. Sales are then expected to continue to rise in the coming years, eventually reaching about 750,000 in 2021, says Yoshinga.

“The background of our current situation is Subaru's rapid sales growth that has caused strain to our U.S. production and to our suppliers. Having recalls like we've had this year, we realize the strong need to strengthen our effort to ensure high quality,” Yoshinga confirmed.

This year, Subaru has issued separate recalls for the Tribeca, Legacy and Outback, while also continuing to call back Takata airbag-equipped models. Additionally, over 100,000 turbo models were recalled last month.