Subaru Australia has seen its sales drop over the past two years, yet the arrival of several fresh models and powertrain choices leaves the brand optimistic about improved results ahead.

Overall sales for 2025 fell just 3.9 per cent compared with 2024, moving from 40,604 units to 39,005. The picture for 2026 looks tougher, however, with the first five months showing a 22.1 per cent decline and roughly 4000 fewer vehicles sold than in the same stretch last year.

Those numbers sit well below the 46,000-plus deliveries achieved in 2023, allowing rivals such as Geely, Omoda Jaecoo and BMW to move ahead on the national charts.

With the latest Forester and Outback generations now on sale, a revised Solterra electric model and the new Trailseeker EV also arriving, local distributor Inchcape believes the groundwork laid in recent years is starting to pay off, according to managing director Blair Read.

"What you have seen over the last couple of years of Subaru performance is, first of all, rationalisation of the range," Mr Read told media at the Trailseeker launch event.

"We went through a period of Liberty exiting the range, we had a pause on STI and further trimming of the lineup. What you are now seeing is the years of work that have gone into preparing the Subaru range across multiple powertrains for the next phase of the brand."

The past year has indeed brought notable activity. The new-generation Forester arrived in 2025 with Toyota-sourced hybrid power, while the Solterra electric vehicle gained extra range, added performance and reduced pricing.

The updated Outback followed, then the wagon-style Trailseeker EV, with the smaller Uncharted EV confirmed for a mid-2026 debut.

"One thing I pose to our dealer network is, when was the last time Subaru launched two new nameplates in the same year? It was probably Brumby and L Series, I am not old enough to go back and check that," Mr Read said.

"But one of the performance challenges over time for the brand has been that it is focused on a number of core models: Forester, Outback and Crosstrek as the heart of the range. In the last six months you have seen huge expansion."

Developments in Japan include an updated hybrid Crosstrek revealed late in 2024 and a hybrid Layback wagon launched more recently. Three new manual models have also been teased overseas to boost the performance range, while a three-row SUV called the Getaway is planned for the US market.

None of those recently revealed vehicles have been confirmed for Australia yet.

"There has been strong hybrid interest with more to come on that, now three EV models as opposed to two years ago with zero EV models, expansion across the range and a number of nameplates," Mr Read said.

"That has been a deliberate strategy over the last four to five years to refresh the model range for where customer trends and where product trends are going in the industry."

Subaru Australia expects to finish 2026 with nine models in showrooms, five of them hybrid or fully electric, compared with seven models and three electrified options in 2025.

Such breadth will matter as the brand competes with fast-growing Chinese manufacturers that have quickly climbed into Australia's top-ten best-selling marques.