Fuji Heavy Industries, the maker of Subaru brand cars and SUVs, has scrapped a plan to shift production of the new XV Crosstrek to its US plant in Indiana and will instead make the crossover SUV in Japan, a source familiar with the company's production plans said.
Fuji Heavy, which has been moving production to Indiana due to the strong yen and a policy of making cars in markets where they are sold, decided to make the new vehicle in Japan because of capacity constraints in Indiana and the relatively high sales price, which makes Japan production more viable, the source said. Pricing for the crossover model starts at just under $25,000 for the limited edition and just under $30,000 for the hybrid version.
The company had originally planned to make about 65,000 XV Crosstrek vehicles a year in Lafayette, Indiana, but will instead assemble them at its plant in Gunma prefecture, north-west of Tokyo, according to production plans reviewed by Reuters and the person with knowledge of the situation, who asked not to be named. The automaker has achieved record-breaking sales in the United States, with a 21 percent surge in the year through November compared with a year earlier. A Fuji Heavy spokesman said he could not comment on production plans for individual vehicles but said there was no change to the company's overall strategy of localising production.
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