Yahoo Autos Subaru Outback facelift debuts in Japan, possibly exclusively
The popular Subaru Outback is one of our favorite SUVs, so our interest was piqued when it debuted with a new face in Japan. Normally that means we in the U.S. would see the refresh on American-market Outbacks in a few months, repeating a pattern that we saw for the 2021 update of the Forester. However, this time might be an exception to the rule.
That's because the Outback flipped the script by premiering in the U.S. before its Japanese counterpart. Remember, American Outbacks are built at Subaru's plant in West Lafayette, Ind., while Japanese Legacy Outbacks are built locally in Gunma Prefecture. (Side note: In the U.S. the name was shortened to just "Outback" at the turn of the century, but in Japan the Legacy, uh, legacy lives on where it is still called the Legacy Outback). The sixth-generation U.S. Outback went on sale in late 2019 as a 2020 model, but the same car didn't debut in Japan until February 2021.
The Japanese Outback is a more evolutionary update. The black cladding on the front remains contained around the chin area, whereas on U.S. versions they rise up to the headlights and angle back down like snake fangs.
