The Subaru Legacy Will Die in 2025

Subaru kills its venerable midsize sedan

written by Chris Bruce^{Correspondent
Chris Bruce has worked in the automotive industry since 2011 and has written thousands of stories about cars, motorsports and motorcycles in that time. Chris is a correspondent for Edmunds and has written for Autoblog, Autoviva, Hagerty, InsideEVs, Motor1 and New Roads. He has also hosted hundreds of podcast episodes. For hobbies, Bruce enjoys building plastic models of robots and cars. He also enjoys video games, particularly the 16-bit variety. His dog keeps him busy.}
4/24/2024
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2025 is the final model year for the Subaru Legacy.
The vehicle debuted in 1989.
Subaru has sold over 1.3 million examples of the sedan in the U.S.

Buyers in the United States are about to have one fewer midsize sedan to choose from. The 2025 Subaru Legacy will be the last time we see the venerable four-door. The automaker debuted it in 1989 as a vehicle specifically for the American market. Since then, the company has sold over 1.3 million of them.

Subaru Legacy production won't end until 2025, so interested buyers will have time to purchase one of the final new examples on sale.

The 2025 Legacy is available in five trim levels and with two powertrains. Lesser grades come with a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter flat four-cylinder making 182 horsepower and 176 lb-ft of torque. The Sport and Touring XT trims get a turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder producing 260 hp and 277 lb-ft of torque.

The Legacy was the first model that Subaru built in the U.S. at its factory in Indiana. Today, that plant still produces the sedan (for now) in addition to the Ascent, Legacy and Crosstrek.

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The Legacy launched as a four-door sedan and was then made available as a five-door wagon. The latter body style turned out to be a very important vehicle for Subaru because the brand eventually fitted it with a lifted suspension to create the Outback, which has arguably become the brand's most iconic model.

In 2023, Subaru delivered 25,510 examples of the Legacy, which was up 12.9% over 2022. However, that figure paled in comparison to the Outback, which saw a volume of 161,814 vehicles, a 9.9% year-over-year gain.

At the moment, no direct replacement for the Legacy is in sight. In its announcement of the model's end, Subaru said "[the] discontinuation reflects market shifts from passenger cars to SUVs and crossovers and Subaru’s transition to electrified and fully electric vehicles. Including the Solterra EV, which debuted in the 2023 model year, Subaru Corporation, the parent company of Subaru of America, Inc., previously announced it would produce eight EV models by the 2028 calendar year."

Edmunds says

Given its sales compared to more popular models like the Subaru Outback and Forester, it's not too surprising that the Legacy is going away. Killing the sedan also shows the continued ascendancy of crossovers versus traditional cars.

by Chris Bruce

Chris Bruce has worked in the automotive industry since 2011 and has written thousands of stories about cars, motorsports and motorcycles in that time. Chris is a correspondent for Edmunds and has written for Autoblog, Autoviva, Hagerty, InsideEVs, Motor1 and New Roads. He has also hosted hundreds of podcast episodes. For hobbies, Bruce enjoys building plastic models of robots and cars. He also enjoys video games, particularly the 16-bit variety. His dog keeps him busy.