Subaru

Subaru Corp. has kept new product flowing over the past two years with the introduction of the three-row Ascent and redesigns of its two most crucial products, the Forester compact and Outback midsize crossovers.

That was good news for the brand's fortunes in the crossover-dominated U.S., its largest market, and for Subaru of America.

But the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown off that rhythm.

Subaru started 2020 — a year when many brands were sensing a slowdown — by forecasting that it would sell more vehicles in the U.S. this year and increase production to bulk up its low inventories of hot-selling models.

But Subaru's Indiana assembly plant has been shut down since March 23, and its 5,500 production employees have been on furlough since April 13. In Japan, vehicle production was paused April 9. Both assembly plants are aiming for production to resume May 11.

After posting sales increases in January and February, Subaru appeared well positioned to keep running toward yet another U.S sales record for the brand, for the 12th consecutive year. But the impact of March's shelter-in-place orders in the U.S. was quickly felt across Subaru's retailers, and sales began dropping significantly. Subaru's remarkable streak of sales increases is now likely to be broken.

Subaru was aiming for U.S. sales of 725,000 vehicles in 2020, which would be an increase of 3.6 percent over the 700,117 sales it posted in 2019.

Subaru's ability to emerge from the crisis in the months ahead will likely come from the same strategy that has driven its sales records: having a fresh, crossover-heavy lineup. That's now led by the Outback, which launched late last summer.