SUBARU AUSTRALIA TIMELINE

1973: Subaru Australia becomes the exclusive importer of Subaru vehicles

1975: Subaru Australia launches its first 4WD, the 1.4 litre station wagon

1978: The 4WD Brumby goes on sale in Australia

1979: Cumulative Subaru vehicle sales in Australia reach 25,000

1980: Australian sales increase 70 per cent over the previous year, making it a top 10 brand

1985: Vortex launched in Australia

1987: More than 100,000 Subarus now in Australia

1989: Liberty launched in Australia

1991: 10,000th Liberty sold in Australia and RS Turbo version launched. Subaru wins its first motoring organization Best Cars award – the first of many over the coming years.

1993: Impreza launched in Australia

1994: Impreza WRX launched in Australia. Impreza AWD Sportswagon is the first vehicle built by Fuji Heavy Industries especially for Australia.

1995: Liberty wins Wheels Car of the Year

1996: Outback launched in Australia – the original crossover vehicle. Possum Bourne wins the first of Subaru Rally Team Australia’s 10 consecutive Australian Rally Driver’s Championships.

1997: Forester launched in Australia - the original compact SUV

1998: The Subaru Australia range becomes exclusively symmetrical All-Wheel Drive.

1999: Impreza WRX STI two-door coupe limited edition launched in Australia. Liberty wagon wins Wheels Car of the Year.

2000: Impreza wins Wheels Car of the Year. Six cylinder Outback introduced.

2003: For the first time, a single Subaru vehicle (Forester) sells over 10,000 in a year.

2004: Every Forester, Liberty and Outback achieves a five star crashworthiness rating for occupant safety from the Australian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP).

2005: Subaru Rally Team Australia wins 10th consecutive Australia Rally Driver’s Championship.

2006: Tribeca is launched, becoming the fifth and largest vehicle in the range.

2007: New generation Impreza is launched and achieves a maximum five-star rating for occupant protection, plus the highest possible four-star pedestrian rating. This makes it the first locally tested Australian specification vehicle to achieve the ultimate double star rating. Revised Tribeca is launched with Subaru’s largest yet production engine, the 3.6 litre horizontally opposed boxer. Subaru achieves 10 consecutive years of record sales.

2008: With the launch of Model Year 2009 Liberty and Outback variants, every Subaru now has electronic stability control as a standard feature and a five-star ANCAP rating. Subaru achieved its 11th consecutive year of record sales.

2009: Subaru launches its first diesel variant in Australia, the turbocharged Outback 2.0D, plus the versatile six-seat Liberty Exiga.

2010: All-time annual record sales of 40,025 vehicles represent the 12th record in the past 13 years.

2011: Subaru tops the J.D. Power’s Australian Customer Service Index. Forester retains status as Australia’s best-selling Compact Sports Utility Vehicle for the fourth consecutive year.

2012: Subaru introduces the sophisticated EyeSight™ driver assist system in Liberty and Outback 3.6R Premium variants. Subaru’s entry into the small SUV market, the All-Wheel Drive XV, is introduced in Australia. Subaru’s new rear wheel drive BRZ sports coupe goes on sale online, proving a massive success, with the car sold-out after just three hours of going “live” on the web. BRZ wins motoring.com.au “recommends” awards in the Performance cars under $100,000 category. BRZ voted the carsales People’s Choice Best Performance Car Under $100,000. BRZ is the News Limited Carsguide Car of the Year and wins Wheels Car of the Year on the 50th anniversary of the prestigious award. Subaru achieves record annual sales.

2013: BRZ named Fun-est Car of the Year in TopGear Australia magazine and is named the Best Buy for 2012 by Australian automotive website themotorreport.com.au (TMR); also wins the News Limited Carsguide People’s Choice Award. Celebrating its 40th year in Australia, Subaru marks another milestone, with the sale of its 700,000th vehicle locally. BRZ wins motoring.com.au “recommends” awards in the Performance cars under $100,000 category. Forester 2.5i named Best Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) under $45,000 in the Australia’s Best Cars awards. BRZ voted the carsales People’s Choice Best Performance Car Under $100,000. Subaru wins the Canstar Blue Most Satisfied Customers Award for SUVs and 4WDs. Subaru achieved a new annual sales record.

2014: BRZ, WRX and WRX STI win motoring.com.au “recommends” awards in the Performance cars under $100,000 category. Subaru retained its Canstar Blue Most Satisfied Customers Award for SUVs and 4WDs, for the second consecutive year, recording perfect five-star ratings for overall satisfaction, value-for-money, point of sale service, after sale service, reliability and performance. Subaru also beat 11 other leading brands to win Canstar Blue’s Most Satisfied Customers Award for Performance, incorporating all vehicle models. The brand again achieved a perfect five stars. WRX STI named Best Performance Car Under $100K in the carsales.com.au Car of the Year Awards. Forester 2.5i again named Best All-Wheel Drive (AWD) Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) under $45,000 in the Australia’s Best Cars awards. Subaru achieves record annual sales for the 15th out of the last 17 years.  

2015: Forester sales in Australia pass 200,000. April - Subaru’s new generation EyeSight® driver assist system won an innovation excellence award from respected researcher, Canstar Blue. Outback passed the 90,000 cumulative sales mark in Australia. Subaru set a new annual sales record of 43,600. It was the brand’s 16th annual record in the last 18 years. Achieving a model sales record was the new generation Outback with a tally of 10,927 and the turbocharged WRX STI with 1,073 sales.

2016: Fifth generation Impreza launches on the innovate Subaru Global Platform (SGP). Subaru do Motorsport team driver Molly Taylor became the first female winner of the Australian Rally Championship (ARC), on the brand’s return to domestic rallying after a 10-year break. Liberty 2.5i placed first in its class in Wheels magazine’s Gold Star Value Awards. Outback 2.5i Premium has been named Australia’s Best All-Wheel Drive Sports Utility Wagon under $50,000 by the nation’s motoring organisations. Subaru achieved a new sales record.

2017: BRZ named MOTOR magazine’s Most Fun Car. Subaru established a new annual sales record.

2018: Subaru’s new generation All-Wheel Drive Forester 2.5i-S named Best Small SUV for 2018 by Drive.

2019: The 1 millionth Subaru sold in Australia – a Forester 2.5i-S.