Subaru Starts The New Year With A Few Surprises

Subaru reports another sales increase in January to start the new year. See which models are up, which are down, and the model that starts the year with a bang.

Subaru is happy to see 2023 arrive as they report an increase in sales to start the new year. Subaru of America (SOA) says sales were up 0.5 percent in January, the sixth consecutive month of month-over-month sales increases for the Camden, N.J. automaker.

SOA reported 44,373 vehicles were delivered to customers for January 2023 compared with January 2022 (44,158). "We are off to a winning start in 2023 following a season of strong holiday car-buying," said Jeff Walters, Senior Vice President of Sales.

The hot Crosstrek isn't cooling off

There were few surprises as Subaru started the new year up in sales over last year. The hot Crosstrek starts the year where it left off. The 2023 Crosstrek was the overall sales leader and best-selling model in 2022. Crosstrek was the top performer by volume again and achieved its best January ever with 12,706 vehicle sales, surpassing its previous record set in January 2021 (10,431).

Outback was the second top performer in January

The newly upgraded 2023 Subaru Outback midsize SUV dropped 1.1 percent, with 10,414 models sold to start the year, staying the second best-selling model in the lineup. Outback had 10,527 sales in January 2022.

Forester continues to slide

The 2023 Subaru Forester compact SUV dropped 25.3 percent with 10,114 models sold and starts the year as the third best-selling model in the lineup. Forester had 13,531 models delivered to customers in January 2022.

The refreshed 2023 Subaru Ascent is the fourth best-selling SUV in the lineup, with 4,582 3-Row SUVs delivered to customers in January. The Ascent was down 16.2 percent compared with 5,470 models sold in January 2022.

The 2023 Subaru Impreza compact sedan and hatchback continue to slide before the next-generation hatchback arrives this spring. SOA delivered 2,451 compact models to customers in January, down 16.6 percent compared with 2,939 sales in January 2022.

The next-generation 2022 Subaru WRX was up 488.3 percent in January, with 2,006 performance models delivered to customers. The WRX had a massive increase over last January 2022 when it had 341 sales when Subaru Corporation switched to the new model.

The all-new 2023 Subaru Solterra EV, in its second month of sales, had 499 compact SUV sales in January. The Solterra is sold out for the 2023 model year, and the EV sales represent all new models arriving from the factory in Japan.

The next-generation 2022 BRZ sports coupe had 332 sales in January, up 0.3 percent from January 2022, when it sold one fewer with 331 models delivered to customers.

The biggest surprise is the Subaru Crosstrek subcompact SUV sales are still going strong in advance of the next-generation model arriving later this year. The Crosstrek is the only SUV in Subaru of America's lineup up in sales volume to start the new year.

"The Crosstrek, our number one seller in 2022, started the new year with its best January ever. We're seeing continued enthusiasm for our adventure-seeking SUV carlines," said Jeff Walters.

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Denis Flierl has invested over 30 years in the automotive industry in a consulting role working with every major car brand. He is an accredited member of the Rocky Mountain Automotive Press. Check out Subaru Report, where he covers all of the Japanese automaker's models. More stories can be found on the Torque News Subaru page. Follow Denis on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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Photo credit: Subaru