Subaru to produce new crossover in Lafayette

The 2008 Subaru Tribeca on display following a debut at the NY Auto Show in 2007.

Cherry Hill, N.J. – Subaru has confirmed that a new 3-row crossover model, effectively replacing the retired Tribeca, will be produced at its SIA plant in Lafayette, Indiana.

Subaru expects to begin production in 2018; at that point, the company will produce four models in the United States: Legacy, Outback, new Impreza sedan and five-door models, and the new crossover.

Subaru’s USA production facility in Lafayette, in (which also made the Tribeca) will take on the extra load. The new vehicle has not yet been named, but officials said it will likely carry a name associated with outdoor adventure and be similar with successful crossovers – Outback, Forester and Crosstrek.

Subaru hasn’t had much to say about the model lately but Fuji Heavy Industries’ senior vice president of global marketing, Nobuhiko Murakami, has previously said it will compete with the Honda Pilot, Nissan Pathfinder and Toyota Highlander.

Yoshinaga didn’t give a volume projection.

Subaru later dropped B9 from the Tribeca name and the crossover went out of production in January 2014.

The new crossover will be larger than the now-dead Tribeca, which is the only vehicle in Subaru’s lineup since 2007 that could even remotely be called a misstep.

Subaru production in IN is projected to be approximately 228,000 units in 2015, and annual capacity is scheduled to grow to 394,000 with the addition of the Impreza, the company said. It has been one of the fastest growing companies in US sales, breaking records and blowing its own targets out of the water seven years in a row.