In case you missed it: Subaru Debuts Next Generation 2015 Subaru Outback At The New York Auto Show

Subaru unveiled the next-gen 2015 Subaru Outback at the New York International Auto Show, kicking off what the company promises to be yet another record sales year.

The 2015 Subaru Outback is the sixth product generation in 20 years since Subaru introduced the first Outback. Then as now, it’s a close sibling to the Subaru Legacy wagon. Production of the redesigned 2015 Subaru Outback starts in June. It starts reaching showrooms early this summer.

Pricing will be “in line with the outgoing model,” said Tom Doll, president and COO of Subaru of America, based in Cherry Hill, N.J.“Never mess with success,” was the mandate for redesigning the Subaru Outback, and Subaru didn’t, Doll said at the auto show press conference on April 17.

To the naked eye, the new model has sharper lines but it’s got a strong family resemblance to the old model. Over the product generations, the Subaru Legacy and the Outback have gotten progressively larger. The styling has gotten more attractive and the handling has improved.

But the core attributes – all-wheel drive, car-like handling and cargo space haven’t changed, Doll said. The new model has virtually the same exterior dimensions as the model it replaces, but there’s a bit more rear legroom and a bit more cargo space in the back.

While the appearance hasn’t changed radically, Subaru has made some significant moves in the area of high-tech safety features, including a new version of its (optional) EyeSight camera system, so called because it uses two cameras working in stereo to measure how far away objects are.

  Subaru logo (Photo credit: Dale Gillard) 

The system is behind Subaru’s “front crash prevention system,” which detects a potential crash based
on the closing distance to a car or an object ahead. Subaru has good reason not to mess with success,
because its recent success has been remarkableThe U.S. company has more than doubled its sales
since 2008, to around 425,000 units in 2013, its fifth consecutive all-time sales record.

Yasuyuki Yoshinaga, president and CEO of parent company Fuji Heavy Industries in Japan, said at
the New York press conference the company expects to make it six in a row in 2014, with a sales
target of around 460,000. The parent company had worldwide record sales of about 830,000 units
in 2013, an increase of about 17 percent from 2012, he said. Yoshinaga said the U.S. market stays on
the front burner in 2014 and beyond, in terms of future investment: “We will continue to consider the
U.S. our most important market.”