Subaru to Add Production Capacity at Indiana Plant

See All 6 Photos6

Amid booming sales in North America, Subaru will increase production capacity at its Lafayette, Ind., plant ahead of schedule.

Subaru will be able to produce a total of 394,000 vehicles annually at the factory by the end of next year. This moves Subaru ahead of its original plan, which was to make just 328,000 vehicles by that deadline and 400,000 vehicles by March 2021.

Yasuyuki Yoshinaga, president of Subaru's parent company Fuji Heavy Industries, said dealers are thirsty to get more cars on their lots. "If we only had more cars, we would be able to sell more," he recently toldAutomotive News.

The Lafayette plant builds the Legacy sedan and Outback crossover, one of the brand's most popular models. Next year, when capacity increases, it will add the Impreza to the production line. Considering that North America accounts for 62 percent of the brand's volume worldwide, it will be imperative for Subaru to boost local production. Currently, the Indiana plant is Subaru's only assembly plant outside Japan.

Subaru is plotting a seventh year of record U.S. sales by the end of 2015, and that's just the beginning. The automaker looks to sell 600,000 cars for North America in the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2016. Originally, Subaru didn't expect to sell that many vehicles in the U.S. and Canada until the fiscal year ending in 2021.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription required)

See All 6 Photos6