Subaru pinning its China hopes on the Subaru XV

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The Chinese market for Subaru has been a tough one, first they came in the early days when the Chinese market was mini car crazy, the Justy was made in Guangzhou for a while but sales did not reach critical mass and the JV between Subaru and Yun Que died in 2002. Pangda picked up the rights to distribute Japanese and later Canadian made Subaru’s in China with early sales going towards a small but loyal enthusiast base but later picked up mass sales when the new generation of Subaru Forester was launched and the introduction of the Outback. The Legacy, Impreza and Tribeca did not reach many, but Subaru has realized that mini crossovers are a hot segment. The Impreza XV was sold in China but was not exactly a looker, so for 2012/13 Subaru are planning to introduce the Subaru XV as a stand alone vehicle and seems to differ greatly from the original XV.

The Subaru XV was expected to go into production via the Chery-Subaru joint venture but it seems that this project has been put on hold as Subaru have hit a bump in the road to gaining joint venture status owing to Toyota’s minority ownership of the company. The China denial has been a major issue at Subaru HQ and the company is looking for other methods to enter the Chinese market, in the meantime the XV is expected to be made in Japan and exported to China in the second half of 2012. A 2.0L Boxxer engine is found under the hood packing 196Nm of torque mated to a linertronic CVT gearbox, behind the steering wheel F1 style flap pedals can be used to change gear in manual mode and most importantly, the Boxxer engine series has been updated so that they can finally take 93 gasoline rather than the more expensive 97.

When can we expect to see it? Likely in the first half of 2012 and we can guess pricing to be in the 150,000rmb and rising area.