Subaru Forester to begin locally assembled production from April 2016

Kuala Lumpur: Subaru is soon going to kick off the CKD production of its Subaru Forester SUV in the country. The Executive director of Tan Chong International Glenn Tan announced recently that Tan Chong Group will be assembling the Subaru Forester starting from April 2016. This makes Subaru Forester to become the second CKD manufactured vehicle after Fuji Heavy Industries another model XV.

The company has not yet confirmed the price and specifications of the CKD model, although Tan Chong said that it will be quite similar to other locally assembled SUV's in the country.

Thus, it can also be speculated that the all-new Forester will now come with the current 2.0i-L naturally-aspirated flat four variant which will keep the cost of this vehicle, comparable, rather than the 2.0 XT turbo variant. On the safety front, the car might receive the existing standard kit including seven airbags and dynamic stability control features.

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It was also not mentioned that the CKD production of the Subaru Forester will be the current model or the facelifted version which was revealed last month at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show.

However, the facelifted model was spotted camouflaged on Malaysian land placing the bet more towards the facelift version than the one currently running.

The facelift of Forester receives a completely tweaked exteriors with all new headlights and tail lights. The bumpers and grille of the facelift are also improved along with better wheel options.

On the inside, the SUV receives all new trim material with a colour LCD displaying multiple pieces of information and navigation system. The SUV also gets heaters in the rear seat along with memory function option in the driver’s seat. Beneath the hood, the SUV is powered by a 2.0-litre powerhouse which is updated to perform on a better fuel economy of 16 kmpl based on the JC08 cycle.