New Subaru Ascent Leans Too Far Left For Australia and UK Consumers

Sorry Australia, Europe, and Japan, Americans are the only ones to get the new 2109 Subaru Ascent 3-Row family hauler.

Americans are the only consumers who will get the all-new 2019 Subaru Ascent and all other global markets will get left out. Ascent won’t be sold in Australia, Europe, Japan or any other global markets. It’s Subaru’s biggest vehicle they’ve ever produced and it’s designed for North American families.

The 2019 Subaru Ascent crossover was designed in Japan, but it’s built in Lafayette, Indiana. It’s what North American Subaru dealers and consumers have been asking for. Subaru dealers in the U.S. told Subaru Corp the new Ascent needed to be larger than the Japanese automaker originally had planned and they listened. Subaru dealers in Australia also want it, but Subaru Corp isn’t listening, they will only be able to look and not touch.

No right-hand-drive Ascents

The main reason Australia and the UK won’t get the new Ascent family hauler is that it’s built in the U.S. as a left-hand drive vehicle. According to a report from CarAdvice, Australia wants the Ascent, and Subaru Australia managing director, Colin Christie told them, “I think one of the challenges is we are the largest right-hand-drive (RHD) market outside of Japan [for Subaru]. We’d love to have that product for Australia.” The primary reason is it costs a lot of money to tool a factory to produce a car in both right-and left-hand drive, money which needs to be returned through lots of sales.

In the U.S., Subaru is cashing in on the crossover craze that is driving Outback, Forester and Crosstrek sales in the U.S. to new records every year. Now they want to continue that trend with the Ascent 3-Row family hauler. The new 3-Row Ascent allows Subaru to enter a whole new large vehicle segment they've been missing until now. It allows their current customer base of young millennials to move up in size as their family grows, and the brand is also expecting many of Ascent buyers to be conquests from other brand’s vehicles.

Subaru’s new 2019 Ascent will compete with Japanese rivals like the Toyota Highlander, Nissan Pathfinder, Honda Pilot, Mazda CX-9, and American entries like the Ford Explorer, Chevy Traverse, Dodge Durango and Jeep Grand Cherokee. Ascent will only be, produced as a left-hand drive vehicle and RHD consumers in Australia, UK and Japan can only look and not touch.

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Photo credit: Subaru USA