• by Tanya Gazdik , November 16, 2023

LOS ANGELES, California —  Subaru of America is hoping to keep current Forester customers happy while appealing to prospective ones with the introduction of the refreshed SUV.

The Forester has been one of the bestselling Subaru vehicles for nearly 30 years, with more than 2.6 million vehicles sold in the U.S. alone.

The 2025 Subaru Forester was officially unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show and will go on sale in the spring. A small group of media members spent some time with executives and the vehicles ahead of the show. 

Forester customers tend to be a range of ages, but overall they are a on the older end of the Subaru spectrum — late 50s or early 60s, says Bill Stokes, Subaru of America car line planning manager.

“But the Sport version skews much younger,” Stokes tells Marketing Daily, adding that those customers are in their 30s and 40s.

“They are making their first new car purchase or they've got a young family and they want something that's very safe to put it in, but they don't want to sacrifice style and features and all of that stuff,"  he says. 

The Touring trim level attracts owners on the older end of the spectrum who tend to be a little more affluent. 

“They tend to be willing to pay a little more for the bells and whistles,” he says. “They'd like the leather interior and the seat ventilation.”

New features of the Forester include a power lift gate and for the first time on a Subaru, Emergency Stop Assist activates if the driver becomes unresponsive to warnings while using Advanced Adaptive Cruise Control.

Wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto are available on non-base trim levels. The reason it's not offered across the board is in order to keep the base version price lower, Stokes says. 

Marketing, which will start closer to the on-sale date, will focus on safety, capability and versatility, he says. 

“Those things are really important to Forester customers and Subaru customers in general,” Stokes says. “We talk about longevity quite a bit. That's really important to our customers. One of the reasons they come to Subaru is because the vehicles last a long time.”