Subaru Forester production has passed the one million mark just nine years and three months after the first model was made in December 1996.

The All-Wheel Drive (AWD) Forester was the best-selling compact Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) in Australia last year with 12,320 sales.

Sales outside Japan dominate its success, with 83.2 per cent occurring overseas.

Forester has the highest proportion of overseas sales among all Subaru models. It is made at Fuji Heavy Industries Gunma Yajima plant.

Developed around the basic concept of a crossover AWD SUV, Forester blends the best features of an SUV and a passenger car and is suited to a wide variety of driving conditions.

First generation Forester set a new world record with an average speed of 180.082 km/h* in a 24-hour challenge in October 1996, as certified by FIA and ACCUS.

With its performance, durability, and reliability proven before introduction, Forester went on sale in Japan in February 1997, followed by introductions overseas that year, including Australia.

Second generation Forester was first introduced in Japan in February 2002, offering improvements in the key areas of manoeuvrability, performance, safety, comfort, usability, and design.

A variant of the second generation Forester was the first compact SUV to achieve a five star crashworthiness rating for occupant safety from the Australian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP). It was also the first time any Japanese-built car achieved a five-star ANCAP rating. The rating is now shared by all Forester variants sold in Australia.

Forester has become one of Australia’s most awarded vehicles, including multiple class awards in the Australia’s Best Cars programme, conducted annually by the nation’s state-based motoring organisations.

Worldwide Forester sales in 2005 totalled 119,743, a 6.2 per cent increase from 2004.

Forester international chronology

October 1996: Forester establishes a new world record with an average speed of 180.082 km/h in a FIA certified, 24-hour endurance challenge
December 1996: Forester production starts at the Gunma Yajima Plant
February 1997: Debut in Japan
July 1997: U.S. introduction
August 1997: Australian introduction
September 1997: European introduction
February 2002: Second generation Forester introduced
February 2006: Cumulative production reaches one million

Forester production

Fiscal years ending 31st March
1996: 7,688
1997: 101,497
1998: 106,350
1999: 109,701
2000: 115,433
2001: 95,500
2002: 123,941
2003: 120,487
2004: 109,024
2005: 110,397**
Total at 17th February, 2006: 1,000,018

** FY2005 indicates the total units produced from 1st April, 2005 to February 17, 2006

* On 30th October, 1996, Forester set the new world record for average speed in a 24-hour endurance race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The result was certified by the Federation Internationale de L'Automobile (FIA) as well as by the Automobile Competition Committee of the United States (ACCUS).

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