Port of Vancouver USA reaches 2 million Subaru imports as Outback returns to Japan
The Washington state port handled its 2 millionth Subaru vehicle on August 14, with nearly 2,000 units arriving from Japan each week. The two companies have extended their lease to 2040, securing the gateway’s role as the inbound mix expands to include the Outback, following its production shift from Indiana to Gunma late last year.
Lisa (Kline) Quan, Subaru of America’s vice-president of vehicle planning and logistics, speaking at the Port of Vancouver USA
Source: Subaru, Lance Fisher
The Port of Vancouver USA handled its 2 millionth Subaru vehicle on August 14, marking a milestone in its 33-year relationship with Subaru of America. The partnership began on January 7, 1993, when a blue Impreza wagon crossed the dock. The port handled its 1 millionth Subaru milestone in July 2014, with the arrival of a red Forester.
"Every single one of the 2 million Subaru vehicles that has rolled across our docks equates to jobs," said port CEO Julianna Marler, adding that the port expected the partnership to keep "delivering positive benefits to our community for years to come".
Nearly 2,000 Subaru vehicles arrive from Japan each week, according to Subaru and the port, on carriers discharging between 1,200 and 2,900 units at a time after a two-week transit. The port describes itself as Subaru's largest import gateway in North America.
Subaru and the port have extended their lease to 2040 and enlarged the automaker’s leasehold from 40 to 43 acres, a commitment approved in October 2025 that secures the gateway’s place in Subaru’s US network for another 15 years.
A changed model mix
The models arriving by sea, according to the port, are the Outback, Crosstrek Hybrid, Impreza, WRX, BRZ, Solterra, Uncharted and Trailseeker. The Outback’s inclusion reflects a production change made in late 2025, when Subaru transferred Outback production from Subaru of Indiana Automotive in Lafayette, Indiana, to its Yajima Plant in Gunma, Japan, while expanding Forester production at the Indiana facility, alongside continued production at Yajima.
Subaru discussed the production shift at its FYE 2025 analyst briefing in May 2025. The company said that moving Outback production to a domestic plant would keep US production capacity broadly unchanged at around 400,000 units, while building the Forester at both Yajima and the US plant would create "a production system that can respond flexibly to changes in the environment". The same briefing put the potential cost of US tariffs at more than $2.5 billion if no mitigation steps were taken – a figure it said covered duties on completed vehicles imported from Japan and on some imported components used in US production.
The reallocation left the Outback exposed to shipping from Japan at a time of tariff pressure. Subaru attributed the model's sales decline over the first four months of 2026 to the manufacturing changeover, the late arrival of the Wilderness at dealers, and difficult comparisons with early 2025, when tariff-related pull-forward buying had boosted sales.
The Port of Vancouver USA’s most recent published figure for Subaru imports dates to 2023, when it reported handling 98,000 vehicles. The port identified the group as the BRZ, Crosstrek, Forester, Impreza, Solterra and WRX, describing the total as a record and above the previous high of 91,000 in 2018. Across all cargo owners, Automotive Logistics’ CY2025 North American ports review found that most gateways handled lower volumes in 2025 than in 2024, with several citing tariff changes as a factor. Among Pacific-lane ports, imports at Hueneme declined by around 12.9%, while Los Angeles saw a drop of more than 35%.
Rail share and inland reach
The port said approximately 80% of arriving vehicles now move to market by rail, with the remaining 20% transported by truck, and that its distribution network reaches dealers as far east as Ohio. When the port announced a 10-year extension of Subaru’s lease in May 2015, it said rail accounted for about 60% of Subaru vehicles, with the cars transported on equipment provided and serviced by BNSF Railway and the remainder moving by road.
Inland connectivity was among the differentiators identified in the ports review, which found that the ability to move volume inland quickly is increasingly shaping which gateways OEMs use.
Processing and tenure
Vehicles are processed within Subaru's leasehold. Port releases from 2023 and 2015 name Auto Warehousing Company as the processor installing side mirrors, trailer hitches and other accessories and carrying out quality checks, and United Road Services, another tenant, as transporting vehicles by truck to Pacific Northwest dealers.
The August 17 announcement restated the lease extension and leasehold expansion, which the port has said will support more efficient logistics. Port commissioners approved both on October 28, 2025; the lease had previously been due to expire at the end of 2030. Lisa Quan, Subaru of America's vice-president of vehicle planning and logistics, called the milestone "a reflection of the trust, collaboration, and shared commitment behind this partnership" and said the company looks to build on it "through 2040 and beyond".
Electric models add complexity
Three of the eight models listed are battery-electric, adding to the processing requirements at the terminal. The Trailseeker, Subaru’s global BEV jointly developed with Toyota Motor Corporation, began production at the Yajima plant in February 2026. The model is built on a mixed-model line, following modifications that began in August 2025 and were completed in January 2026, alongside petrol and hybrid vehicles. The Solterra and Uncharted, meanwhile, are produced at Toyota facilities.
The switch to in-house EV assembly has reshaped Subaru's inbound logistics in Japan as well. To supply the Yajima line, Subaru began consolidating long-distance parts transportation for its EVs through a partnership with Seino Transportation announced in February 2026, routing parts from suppliers in the Chukyo region through a single branch in Aichi Prefecture – part of a wider logistics reorganisation under a chief logistics officer role the company created in April 2025.
Automotive Logistics’ CY2025 ports review found that electric vehicles bring additional charging infrastructure, battery monitoring and specialist handling requirements to port operations, and that gateways offering that kind of value-added capability are increasingly favoured. The review also found that established gateways are difficult for manufacturers to move away from, given the time and investment involved in developing processing facilities, rail connections and dealer distribution networks. OEMs, it noted, may therefore be more likely to adjust how they use existing ports than to abandon them. In that context, a lease running to 2040 at a terminal largely dedicated to a single brand appears consistent with the broader pattern.
