Subaru Canada to Rely Less on U.S.-Built Vehicles Moving Forward
Subaru Canada is about to make adjustments to where it sources its vehicles in the wake of the 25-percent counter-tariffs on U.S.-built vehicles that came in retaliation for similar tariffs announced by the Trump administration on foreign-made automobiles.
Based on comments made by president and CEO Tomohiro Kubota, Automotive News Canada is reporting that imports from the U.S. will decline in the coming months.
In 2024, roughly a quarter (26 percent) of all Subaru vehicles sold in Canada came from south of the border, including Outback, Ascent, Legacy and Crosstrek Wilderness models manufactured in Lafayette, Indiana. With the new 2026 models on the way, Kubota expects that proportion to drop to just 10 percent.
The shift will help mitigate the impact of the aforementioned counter-tariffs. Subaru Canada could have been granted an exemption if it had domestic production operations, but that’s not the case.
Canadian-spec units of the new 2026 Subaru Outback will be imported from Japan, a country that Canada has a free-trade agreement with. When it comes to the Forester, which will take its place in Lafayette, the company won’t say for now whether the 2026 models will continue to come from the Gunma plant near Tokyo or some units will be assembled in the U.S., according to Automotive News Canada.
Subaru Canada’s CEO has apparently suggested that dealers are likely to adjust prices on select models later in 2025 in response to the 25-percent tariffs. The company will keep monitoring the situation on a daily basis.
Subaru Canada recorded a new single-month sales record with 7,397 units sold in March. This beats the previous record of 6,611 units sold in September 2020 and marks a 14.8 percent increase over March 2024. Year-to-date sales are up 2.6 percent over the same time last year.
