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Outback to be 'truck'


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Bit off topic but read on it does relate to the Legacy GT. DETROIT The Subaru Outback sedan looks like any other midsize car, with a trunk and comfortable seating for four adults. But Subaru is tweaking some parts of the Outback sedan and wagon this year to meet the specifications of a light truck, putting them in the same regulatory category as pickups and sport utilities. Why? Largely to avoid tougher U.S. fuel economy and air pollution standards for cars. It is the first time that an automaker has planned to make relatively minor changes in a sedan - like raising its ground clearance by about an inch and a half, or 3.8 centimeters - so it can qualify as a light truck. But it is hardly the first time an automaker has taken advantage of the nation's complex fuel regulations, which divide each manufacturer's production of vehicles into two categories. In the 2005 model year, light trucks will have to average 21.2 miles per gallon, or 9 kilometers per liter. By contrast, each automaker's full fleet of passenger cars must average 27.5 miles per gallon. The move will let Subaru sell more vehicles with turbochargers, which pep up performance but hurt mileage and increase pollution. "It was difficult to achieve emissions performance with the turbos," said Fred Adcock, executive vice president of Subaru of America. Subaru's strategy highlights what environmentalists, consumer groups and some politicians say is a loophole in the fuel economy regulations that has undermined the government's ability to cut gas consumption. The average fuel economy for new vehicles is lower now than it was two decades ago, despite advances in fuel-saving technology. "This is a new low for the auto industry and it would make George Orwell proud," said Daniel Becker, a global warming expert at the Sierra Club. It is particularly striking that Subaru wants to call the Outback a light truck because many of its owners see the wagon version as a rugged alternative to a sport utility, and the Outback sells best in those parts of the country, like college towns, where many people think it unfashionable to own an SUV. "I probably can't count my friends with Outbacks on one hand - I'd have to use feet and toes," said Elizabeth Ike, 29, a college fund-raiser in Virginia. [img]http://www.nytimes.com/images/2004/01/13/business/13suba_graphic.jpg[/img] "I don't want to speak for my friends, but I think they probably don't want to be that person in the Excursion," she said, referring to Ford's largest sport utility. Subaru, a unit of Fuji Heavy Industries, says the new Outback, which will go on sale this spring, will retain its not-an-SUV image because the changes being made are technical in nature. Further, the base model will be more fuel efficient than the current version. They said that calling the Outlook a light truck will also let them offer the option of a tinted rear window not allowed on passenger cars. Subaru executives noted that the sedan version of the Outback accounts for only about 8 percent of the model's sales, or about 3,500 vehicles a year; the rest are wagons. But critics say the numbers are less important than the precedent that the reclassification would set. "If they can do it with a sedan, then anyone can do it with a sedan," said John DeCicco, a senior fellow at Environmental Defense. "It's almost like anything goes at this point." Federal regulations originally set less-stringent fuel economy and emissions requirements for light trucks to avoid penalizing builders, farmers and other workers who rely on pickups. But the exemption opened the way for automakers to replace sedans and station wagons with vehicles that fit the definition of a light truck, notably sport utility vehicles and minivans. Light trucks account for more than half of all passenger vehicles sold in the country, up from a fifth in the late 1970's. The Transportation Department oversees corporate average fuel economy regulations and fines companies that do not comply with the rules. Companies that change a borderline vehicle can benefit in two ways, because a big wagon that can sink an automaker's car average may improve its truck average. That, in turn, makes it possible to produce more big trucks and still meet the overall truck standard. The carmaker, which is based in Tokyo and one-fifth owned by General Motors, said overseas sales could rise 6.5 percent this year to 317,000 units, while sales in Japan, excluding mini vehicles, may increase by 24 percent to 306,000 units. Fuji Heavy, which makes only three types of passenger cars, compared with the 100 models sold by the biggest Asian carmaker, Toyota Motor, needs to offer a broader range of designs to attract customers and remain competitive. Fuji Heavy said it aimed to sell 220,000 units of the Legacy worldwide, 54 percent of them in the United States, and 30,000 cars in Europe and Australia, with the remaining 70,000 in Japan. The Legacy, which competes with the Honda Accord and Mazda Atenza, comes as either a sedan or a station wagon. Fuji Heavy said its U.S. sales could rise 9 percent this year to a record 203,000 units, while its European sales may rise 7 percent to 50,000 units and Australian sales might increase 4 percent, to 31,500 units.
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