http://www.autoblog.com/2009/09/30/r...hree-milliont/

There's cause for celebration in Lafayette, Indiana, and it's not because the Colts are 3-0. The Indianapolis Star reports that Subaru has built its three millionth American made vehicle at its Lafayette facility; a silver Outback 2.5i. Over 9,000 workers were involved in reaching the production milestone, and nearly 3,500 workers are currently employed at the facility.

Subaru needed a longish 20 years to achieve its latest production milestone, and even then it got a hand from Toyota, since the Camry is currently being built there. Subaru's only U.S. plant had a peak production output of 216,198 back in 1998, but sagging auto sales has conspired to cut production down to an expected 158,000 this year in spite of the fact that the all-wheel drive Japanese automaker has perhaps its best lineup ever and some of the strongest sales figures industry-wide. Production could increase in the short term, though, as Cash for Clunkers has drained Subaru inventory down to 16 days worth of cars and crossovers, down from its typical 60-70 day supply. Subaru sold a record 28,863 vehicles in August.

 

I bought my Outback from the Lafayette plant, and, so far, quality-wise, it's been the best, most reliable, and most versatile car I've ever owned, though my Lexus IS300 had more power, a better paint job, a more flexible transmission, and was more refined in some areas. The IS300 was also mechanically reliable, but its electrical system, in several areas, was not as good as the Outback's.

Subaru's AWD system, especially, has impressed me.....just as BMW's chassis/steering, Audi's interior trim, VW's 2.0T engine/DSG gearbox, Volvo safety features, Lexus driving refinement and paint jobs, and Honda/Acura Swiss-watch assembly qualty have.

 

I'm on my second Legacy GT from this plant. I like having a nice car that is built in America. 112,000 miles and no rattles!

 

Go Subie!!

btw, where do they build the highest volume model, the Forrester?

 

I believe near Hiroshima, Hamamatsu or Yokohama, Japan.

 

How is the quality of the Camry at the Lafayette, Indiana plant? I have wondered if the quality at the Indiana plant is better than the Georgetown Kentucky plant. The engine comes from Japan at the Indiana plant, and it seems that the Camry had some quality problems the year it was redesigned in 2007, which was before the Indiana plant was built. On the other hand, the Kentucky plant was the bronze J.D. Powers quality award.

How is the quality of the Camry's at the Lafayette, Indiana plant?

 

Welcome to Clublexus. Good question, I honestly have no idea...

 

I have no idea, nor do I understand how this relates to the topic here.

btw, the Camry is the best selling sedan in the US, so Toyota is doing very well with this model.

 

The Forester has always come from Japanese plants. The old Forester was based on the Impreza platform, whose variants also were Japanese-built. The new Forester, of course, is larger than that now.

One way to tell if a vehicle comes from a Japanese plant is to look for the letter "J" as the first digit of the VIN. "J" indicates assembly in a Japanese plant, and will not be used for cars assembled in any other country.

 

Welcome to CL.....and CAR CHAT.

From what I've seen, and been able to gather, there is little if any difference in Camry quality between the Lafayette and Japanese plants. It has, for most of its life, been a much-better-than-average car in terms of quality and reliability. There have, however, been some issues with the transmissions in newer V6s, and the present-generation model has what, IMO, are some junk interior parts, especially on the dash, but that is not necessarily the fault of the plant workers. That was....and is......more of an issue of bean-counting by the car's designers and suppliers.