Enhancing flexibility and agility to navigate rapid environmental changes

A considerable amount of time has already passed since the automotive industry began to be described as entering a once-in-a-century transformation. In particular, the non-linear transformation and the pace of developments over the past two years since I assumed the role of President have exceeded our expectations. Even looking at just the past year, the entire automotive industry has faced unprecedented upheaval. Even amid such highly uncertain conditions, SUBARU has maintained a steady corporate direction while, over the past two years, significantly enhancing its agility and ability to respond swiftly—leveraging the scale of the company to evolve these capabilities. Looking ahead, it is both our mission and my responsibility as CEO to further enhance our flexibility and expandability, and to continue delivering optimal products to our customers through resilient Monozukuri (manufacturing) and value creation.
Since joining the Company, I have consistently adhered to a hands-on, on-site approach. Through my career in design, manufacturing, and quality assurance, I have always gone directly to the field to seek answers whenever I encountered challenges or obstacles. Even after assuming the role of President, I make it a priority to visit the field whenever possible, listening firsthand to our Group employees and the voices from production, development, and sales sites around the world. These insights serve as the starting point for my management decisions. Over the past two and a half years, I have repeatedly seen firsthand that the answers lie in the field. Going forward, we will continue to value insights from the field and make management decisions with speed, even amid a rapidly changing environment.

Breaking down organizational barriers
——achieving overall optimization and speed through the CXO structure

When I first became President, I recognized a challenge: despite not being one of the largest companies in the automotive industry, our organization faced many internal barriers. In an era of rapid change, I believed it was essential to remove these barriers and unite as one, leveraging our nimble company size to make decisions from an overall optimization perspective and act with speed. From this vision, we launched the “Becoming One SUBARU” initiative.
In 2024, we established the Innovation Hub at the Gunma Plant, creating a space where members from all divisions, as well as partner companies and suppliers, can collaborate and freely discuss across the entire engineering chain, from planning and design to development, procurement, and production technology. This has strengthened connections both within and outside the Company, significantly enhancing our speed and flexibility.
Subsequently, we identified five priority themes and appointed Chief X Officers (CXOs), establishing a structure with strong authority to drive cross-organizational initiatives. Today, this leadership structure with five CXOs is functioning extremely effectively. It facilitates organic connections between divisions that previously had limited communication, implementing initiatives and systems that have, as a result, significantly accelerated the speed of product development. Building on these achievements, in FYE March 2026, we appointed a Chief Logistics Officer (CLO) and a Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). Going forward, we will further strengthen the system that enables CXOs to collaborate both vertically and horizontally, adapting to the objectives and progress of each project.
We view “Becoming One SUBARU” not merely as an organizational reform, but as an evolution of our corporate culture to continuously adapt to change. United by a shared vision, our Group employees will cherish connections between people and continue delivering SUBARU’s unique value to society.

Fostering a culture that encourages challenges
——organizational reforms to unlock the potential of our people

At the core of SUBARU’s value creation are our people. Looking ahead, tackling the unknown is essential for shaping the future, and the driving force behind these challenges is the strength of each and every employee. Our employees have a deeply rooted sense of diligence and integrity; however, it is also true that concerns about failure and hesitation to seek support have, at times, made it difficult for them to take the first step toward new challenges. For this reason, under the concept of “Becoming One SUBARU,” over the past year we have worked on initiatives such as establishing organizational structures that promote cross-departmental communication and strengthening human resources measures. In addition, management has actively engaged with employees, encouraging their challenges and recognizing failures, fostering a culture that further supports and motivates taking on new initiatives. As a result, I feel that the number of employees willing to take on challenges, particularly among younger staff, has steadily increased. A culture that embraces both challenge and failure is gradually taking root within SUBARU.
The same thinking guided our decision to evolve one of the Six Priority Areas for Sustainability, “Diversity,” into “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I).” At SUBARU, we are proud to have many talented individuals full of potential, bringing diverse perspectives and creative ideas. By unlocking the seeds of potential in each individual and nurturing them collectively, we generate innovation. I believe that cultivating a culture to sustain this cycle is a fundamental mission of management.

Challenges that shape the future
——our commitment to see them through as “One SUBARU”

We have long been preparing to realize our initiatives in “Monozukuri Innovation” and “Value Creation.” At the same time, the reality is that there are many aspects of implementation that can only be understood by taking action. As “One SUBARU,” all Group employees will unite to take on challenges and see them through to completion. As the Company’s leadership, I will strive to amplify the growing wave of change while inspiring motivation to create the future together.

New challenges in increasingly advanced and complex vehicle manufacturing

The SUBARU Group is firmly committed to “Monozukuri Innovation,” combining flexibility and expandability, in line with the New Management Policy announced in August 2023. We will provide further details in the future, but we already feel that “Monozukuri Innovation” is taking root rapidly. In pursuit of a carbon-neutral society, we have taken a decisive turn toward battery electric vehicles (BEVs), choosing this path based on our resources and opportunities. Although BEV demand has recently plateaued, our view remains unchanged that BEVs will continue to be central in the medium to long term. The challenge of planning and developing new BEVs with vehicle structures vastly different from conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) models, and beginning production at new factories built from scratch on undeveloped land, represents a major turning point in “Monozukuri Innovation,” moving beyond traditional frameworks and giving us a competitive edge over other companies. Going forward, we aim to extend the elements of “Monozukuri Innovation” pioneered with BEVs to our ICE-based products as well.

Value creation leveraging SUBARU’s unique, strong relationships with our customers

Under the New Management Policy, another key initiative is “Value Creation.” We have defined the value we want to provide our customers as “Enjoyment and Peace of Mind.” However, the moments and opportunities when customers experience this ”Enjoyment and Peace of Mind” differ for each individual. For this reason, we place the highest priority on initiatives that stay close to our customers. Our strength lies in the deep connections we maintain with our retailers and customers. During the period that customers own their vehicles, we strive to ensure their appeal remains intact and foster long-term relationships, challenging ourselves to create new value based on the concept of “retaining value.” To achieve this, we will further increase customer touchpoints, incorporate their feedback into product development, and apply it to post-purchase services as well. Accordingly, we reorganized our after-sales division to strengthen the system.

Turning “Enjoyment and Peace of Mind” into a foundation for a sustainable society

SUBARU aims to achieve a balance between realizing a sustainable society and the sustainable growth of the SUBARU Group, leveraging its corporate value and strengths to the fullest. Guided by this vision, in FYE March 2025 we expanded the Six Priority Areas for CSR into the Six Priority Areas for Sustainability. Going forward, we will place greater emphasis on social value in all aspects of our corporate activities and expand the scope of our initiatives to encompass all stakeholders.
In the “Peace of Mind” area, one of the Six Priority Areas for Sustainability, we are advancing initiatives aimed at achieving zero traffic fatalities by 2030. While this is a highly important challenge in addressing this social issue, there are, in reality, many hurdles to overcome. For example, in cases such as collisions involving vehicles driving the wrong way or being trapped between large vehicles, it is difficult to achieve zero fatalities through SUBARU’s products and technologies alone. It is possible to enhance safety by equipping vehicles with numerous sensors, but the resulting increase in cost could hinder widespread adoption. That is why we view the installation of safety technologies in all models at an appropriate price as a key challenge, and we are working to promote the wider adoption of vehicles equipped with such technologies by leveraging the technical capabilities we have built over the years. In addition, we aim to realize a sustainable society by mobilizing the entire company to help reduce traffic accidents across society as a whole—through collaboration with other companies, partnerships in infrastructure development^*, and initiatives to raise public awareness of traffic safety. We believe that “Peace of Mind” extends beyond ensuring safety—for example, encompassing the sense of being cared for through connected technologies and the ongoing relationships with local dealerships. SUBARU aims to foster a sustainable cycle that values human connections and drives initiatives that benefit society.

*On June 24, 2025, Kajima Corporation and Subaru Corporation
Launch Real-World Demonstration Tests of Cooperative Vehicle-Infrastructure Autonomous Driving Using Optical Fiber Sensing Technology

To our stakeholders

By ensuring that customers can enjoy their SUBARU vehicles for many years, we not only enrich their lives but also offer a choice that is gentle on society. Going forward, we will continue to build a better future together with all of our stakeholders. Since assuming the role of President in 2023, I have implemented initiatives to strengthen our ability to respond with flexibility and resilience in these turbulent times. These efforts have steadily been embedded and have now moved into the execution phase. Looking ahead, we will continue to take on the challenge of creating new value as “One SUBARU.” Without yielding to difficult circumstances, we trust in the capabilities we have built and forge ahead to shape the future. This spirit embodies the unchanging essence of SUBARU and our promise to build the future together with all our stakeholders. Please look forward to what’s ahead.