It’s a new month and that means sales data is slowly trickling in. Some of the latest is from Subaru and it reveals August sales climbed 1.3% to 62,028 units.

While the brand didn’t break any records like Kia, they noted the Ascent, Crosstrek, Outback, and WRX had their best month of the year. The Crosstrek was the top performer with 19,541 sales, which was a 4.4% decline from a year ago.

More: Subaru Is Spending $9,650 Per Solterra Just To Get Them Off Lots

The Forester was up 17.8% to 16,760 units, while the Outback slid 3.4% to 15,233. It’s also worth noting dealers sold five Legacy sedans, despite the fact that production ended nearly a year ago.

The biggest surprise for August was the Ascent, which saw sales climb 37.2% to 5,155 units. The 2027 model was announced in June and only received minor changes such as a new Deepwater Blue Pearl paint job and USB Type-C charging ports. Those are hardly the kind of things that would drive sales in a crossover that was introduced in 2017.

While the Ascent’s sudden sales jump is a mystery, the WRX’s 191% increase is a no-brainer. The brand slashed pricing earlier this year and focused on affordability.

That brings us to EVs, which paint a mixed picture. Solterra sales fell 86.6% to a dismal 197 last month. At the same time, Subaru sold 1,248 Trailseekers and 320 Uncharted EVs.

This implies the new Trailseeker and Uncharted could be cannibalizing sales from the older Solterra. However, it may not be that simple as a quick search suggests dealers only have 70 new Solterras in stock. That’s less than two weeks of supply, so the lack of product appears to be hampering sales.

That being said, overall sales of EVs were up slightly as Subaru sold 1,765 in August. That’s a 21.3% increase compared to the 1,466 sold a year ago.

Subaru US Sales August 2026

Subaru has thrown an extraordinary amount of money at selling EVs in the US, and it has almost nothing to show for it. The Solterra, Uncharted, and Trailseeker remain exceptionally niche vehicles for the automaker. In July, the WRX almost outsold all three of them combined.

The company ramped up incentive spending during the April-June period, and it shows. Those expenses cut ¥24.9 billion ($153.8 million) from global earnings and accounted for most of the decline. Marketing costs in the US jumped 40 percent in the second quarter, averaging $2,698 per vehicle, even as the company poured more into its electric models.

According to Autonews, citing industry data from Motor Intelligence, incentives on cars including the BRZ, Outback, and Legacy rose 27 percent, while average spending on trucks climbed 49 percent.

Read: WRX Sales Nearly Quadruple In June After Subaru Slashed Prices By Over $5,000

Even after the increase, Subaru’s average incentive spending stayed below the industry average of $3,479 per vehicle. Its 40 percent year-over-year jump, however, dwarfed the wider market’s 4.4 percent rise.

The EV Math Gets Ugly

Motor Intelligence reports that Subaru spent an average of $9,155 for every Uncharted sold last quarter, $9,650 for every Solterra, and $8,982 per Trailseeker. For comparison, average incentives on the Outback ran $3,036. None of the three electric models looks capable of meaningfully expanding Subaru’s slice of the EV market.

The heavy spending follows the repeal of federal EV tax credits last year, which stripped away support that had propped up demand.

Big Expenses, But Low Sales

Sales data shows that through the first seven months of this year, Subaru delivered 5,275 examples of the Solterra, down 34.6 percent compared to 8,063 sold over the same period last year. In July, sales tumbled 91.2 percent from 1,562 to just 138 units. The Trailseeker and Uncharted are newer entrants to Subaru’s range, so sales figures can’t be compared to this time last year, as they weren’t available.

Nonetheless, they’re certainly not setting any records. Year-to-date, 3,513 Trailseekers have been sold, and 2,850 Uncharted models. In July, 359 Uncharted models were delivered, as well as1,077 Trailseekers. Add up that month’s figures for all three EVs, and you get just 1,574 units, barely ahead of the WRX’s 1,438.

As the spending climbed, Subaru’s operating profit fell from $472 million in the fiscal quarter ended June 30 last year to $263.2 million over the same period this year.

Subaru Sales July ’26