When a company has a winning product, it has it made. Or does it? Subaru is a winning company (one of the few automotive companies to sustain growth and profits in hard economic times) with various winning products, including the Impreza, Legacy, Forester, and Outback. But what happens when any one product starts to decline in popularity? This video demonstrates how Subaru constantly engages in new product development as part of its efforts to manage the product life cycle for each of its models. Subaru is focused on both developing the next version of each existing model and developing possible new models to boost its product portfolio.
1. Choose one of Suraru's current models and describe its life cycle so far. Which stage do you think it is currently in?
2. What consumer trends were mentioned in the video, and how do they affect Subaru's product development?
3. What does Subaru do, specifically, to remain customer-focused as it develops new products?