Path to Further Growth
On August 2, 2023, Subaru Corporation announced its new management policy.

Review of STEP Mid-Term Management Vision Efforts

In the “STEP” mid-term management vision formulated in 2018, which proclaims “Enjoyment and Peace of Mind” as our unwavering value statement and “Delivering Happiness to All” as our vision, we declared that we would continue to pursue the “Subaru Difference,” with the goal of providing customers with emotional value as well as functional value.

This direction will remain unchanged under the new management.

In “STEP,” we have made quality enhancement a top priority, focusing our efforts on strengthening the awareness and mindset of employees as well as the organizational structure and systems, and we are making steady progress.

At the same time, with the goal of contributing to the realization of a carbon-neutral society and achieving our value statement of “Enjoyment and Peace of Mind,” we have been advancing Monozukuri1 Innovation by revamping our Subaru manufacturing.

*1: Monozukuri: Manufacturing

We now see that these efforts have resulted in building a reputation not only for our products, but also for our company and brand.

On the product side, we receive top ratings from independent organizations, such as #1 rankings in the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) and Top Safety Pick Plus (TSP+) awards from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

At the same time, our corporate and brand reputation has grown. As a result of our commitment to corporate citizenship and social impact through the Subaru Love Promise initiatives in the U.S., Subaru has been recognized by Forbes as one of America's Best Brands for Social Impact, ranking #1 in the automotive category, and has been recognized among the top companies in the Axios Harris Poll 100 Reputation Rankings for three consecutive years.

We believe our strong corporate and brand reputation among the American people, along with these product accolades from our customers and independent organizations, demonstrate that our efforts through “STEP” are on the right track, and we value such recognition as a significant asset for Subaru.

Vision for 2030

However, our business environment is changing rapidly and non-linearly. We are seeing the rapid shift to electrification in the U.S., significant changes in the automotive industry, and the rise and growth of emerging manufacturers, including those in other industries.

People have been calling this a once-in-a-century period of profound transformation for some time now, but we see these non-linear changes and their speed in recent years as greater than ever before.

In the following, we will explain how Subaru is responding to these major changes in the business environment from two perspectives - “Electrification plan update” and “Determination for 2028.”

Electrification plan update

Previously, the 2030 target was for HEVs and BEVs to account for at least 40% of our total global sales.

We have now raised the target to “50% of Subaru's total global sales to be BEVs,” which will be achieved by selling 600,000 BEVs out of our total global sales of 1.2 million-plus Subaru vehicles.

As we announced in May 2023, total annual BEV production capacity in Japan is expected to be 400,000 units per year from 2028.

On the U.S. side, we plan to start U.S. production of BEVs as well as next-generation HEV models using TOYOTA Hybrid System (THS) technology.

With the addition of BEV production in the U.S., Subaru's total global production capacity will be at the level of 1.2 million units per year.

In this transition period of the shift to electrification, while keeping a close eye on regulations and market trends, we will be “flexible” by taking advantage of the reorganization of our production in Japan and the U.S., and “expand” at once when the direction of the shift becomes clear. With this concept of “flexibility and expandability” at the core, we intend to navigate through these challenging times.

Determination for 2028

As mentioned above, we've decided to significantly update our electrification sales target and production structure to support those sales toward 2030.

In our pursuit of these visions, we are positioning the next five years up to 2028 as a very important period for us, and under the new management structure, we will work with strong determination on two key areas: "Monozukuri Innovation" and "Value Creation".

In this transition period when internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles are being replaced by battery electric vehicles (BEVs), we will strongly promote these key initiatives while restructuring all key aspects of our monozukuri, from the production structure to the development process and product planning.

Rather than simply advancing these initiatives, our goal is to become a world leading company in "Monozukuri" and "Value Creation," so that we do not fall behind in this era of profound transformation.

We aim to achieve our “Monozukuri Innovation” and “Value Creation” at an early stage by shifting our focus and resources to battery electric vehicles.

In the past, we referred to ourselves as “a group of craftsmen with a nimble, flexible approach” and introduced a variety of technologies such as all-wheel drive (AWD) and EyeSight.

As times have changed, customer preferences have changed, cars have become more complex, and the areas to be addressed have become more diverse. This has led to rapid progress in the division of functions, especially in the areas of product development, production and the supply chain, including specialization in individual areas and outsourcing of work to suppliers.

On the other hand, in this once-in-a-century period of profound transformation, we are now faced with a situation where we must compete and outperform not only our competitors in the same industry, but also those in other industries with an entirely new sense of value.

Through “Monozukuri Innovation,” we will advance our own high-density monozukuri by becoming “One Subaru,” encompassing all aspects from product development to production and the supply chain, which we intend to achieve by leveraging our corporate and operational scale.

Based on this approach, we will strive to achieve world-leading monozukuri by cutting the development process and lead time in half, the configuration and number of parts in half, and the production process and lead time in half.

In our current operations, each segmented function, such as product planning, design, and production, waits for the previous process to complete its work, and then passes the work on to the next process like a relay. Through our Monozukuri Innovation initiatives, we will make the process agile, which will lead to a 50% reduction in Monozukuri time.

At the same time, by continuously advancing these initiatives, we will reduce the process and lead time for product development and production in existing domains and strengthen our ability to respond to “non-linearly transforming domains” in this age of uncertainty.

At Subaru, making cars has always been about being close to our customers' lives. Subaru cars have created memories for their owners, and our customers feel “love” for their cars and for Subaru.

In the U.S., "love" has evolved into the Subaru Love Promise, the philosophy and initiatives to which Subaru and our retailers are deeply committed.

With Subaru products at its core, the Subaru Love Promise creates a strong bond between Subaru, its customers, its retailers and its communities. We believe this is a source of our value creation for society and the future, and we intend to protect and expand it.

This commitment will remain unchanged in the period of profound change or in the age of electrification. We will further enhance the value of our products that are at the heart of this strong relationship between Subaru, customers, retailers and communities.

An important factor in creating value in the BEV era is to further enhance “Enjoyment and Peace of Mind,“ the unwavering value that Subaru offers to customers.

We are sometimes asked whether Subaru can maintain its strengths and “Subaru-ness” in the BEV era. As one of our answers, we believe that our long-cultivated AWD capability will be further enhanced by the precise control enabled by BEV technology, leading to further enhancement of our strengths; safety and peace of mind.

In addition, we are pursuing new benefits for our customers, such as a seamless & stress-free user experience through the latest technologies. We will also provide further benefits through our “Retaining Value” and “Continuing to Deliver New-Car Feel” initiatives, which are based on our desire for customers to have long relationships with their Subarus while maintaining the value of their vehicles.We intend to realize these visions with our technologies.

Through these products and technologies, we believe that our customers can enjoy the unfading emotional value that comes from spending time with their Subarus, such as “peace of mind,” “stimulated desire for self-challenge,” and their vehicles being “always up-to-date.”

As the shift to electrification progresses, Subaru aims to become even closer to our customers' lives through these efforts.

Subaru aims to realize these goals in the next 5 years through 2028 under the new management.

We will strive to achieve world-leading monozukuri by 2028 to enhance our competitiveness. At the same time, we will pursue value creation while offering our BEVs with world-leading competitiveness.

In addition to the four BEV SUVs already announced, we plan to launch four more models by the end of 2028. As a result, Subaru will have a total of 8 models in its BEV lineup by the end of 2028.

With this BEV lineup, we aim to sell 400,000 BEVs in the U.S. in 2028. This will account for more than half of our total U.S. sales.

Cultivating people and organizations that drive innovation

In pursuing our Monozukuri Innovation and Value Creation initiatives, the driving force is none other than our “people.” The development of human resources is the source of the company's competitiveness, and ensure that Subaru will focus our its company-wide efforts there.

Specifically, we will accelerate our efforts focused on “individual growth,” a priority of the “STEP” mid-term management vision.

Beyond “individual growth,” it is also our mission as management to further develop a corporate culture that fosters “innovation leaders” by creating a work environment and opportunities for them to play an active leadership role in driving innovation.

These Innovation Leaders, as they drive innovation across all functions and divisions and expand partners to collaborate with them inside and outside their workplaces, will lead the way in creating processes and technologies that will set the standard for the new era.

Financial and capital policy

While maintaining financial soundness and stability, we will make aggressive growth investments to prevail in the age of electrification. The amount of investment in production and development for electrification that we have announced is expected to be approximately 1.5 trillion yen by around 2030.

At the same time, we will implement “shareholder returns that are more conscious of improving capital efficiency.”

As we pursue the “Monozukuri Innovation” and “Value Creation” initiatives described in the previous section, our goal of achieving industry-leading profit margins, as set out in our “STEP” mid-term management vision, remains unchanged.

Presentation Materials

Announcement on August 2, 2023 :

Announcement on May 11, 2023 :

Announcement on May 12, 2022 :