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Subaru Ascent outsells Tribeca SUV in one year

Fun fact: In its first full year on sale, the three-row Ascent outsold the Tribeca's entire nine-year production run.

Steven Ewing Former managing editor
Steven Ewing spent his childhood reading car magazines, making his career as an automotive journalist an absolute dream job. After getting his foot in the door at Automobile while he was still a teenager, Ewing found homes on the mastheads at Winding Road magazine, Autoblog and Motor1.com before joining the CNET team in 2018. He has also served on the World Car Awards jury. Ewing grew up ingrained in the car culture of Detroit -- the Motor City -- before eventually moving to Los Angeles. In his free time, Ewing loves to cook, binge trash TV and play the drums.
Steven Ewing
2020 Subaru Ascent
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2020 Subaru Ascent

The Ascent has been pretty successful, and it isn't even Subaru's strongest-selling model.

Subaru

Subaru's three-row SUV has only been on sale for about a year, and it's off to a great start. In fact, in its first year of sales, the Ascent has already outshone its predecessor, the Tribeca.

"Ascent has already outsold the entire production of Tribeca," a Subaru spokesperson told Roadshow at a media event on Thursday.

Since going on sale last summer, Subaru has sold more than 83,000 Ascents -- 47,404 of them so far in 2019. Over the course of the Tribeca's nine-year model run, however, just 76,774 found homes in the US, according to GoodCarBadCar.net data

Interestingly, the Ascent isn't even Subaru's best-selling vehicle. It's currently the fourth-strongest seller in the US, behind the , Forester and .

2006 Subaru B9 Tribeca

Subaru's quirky-looking B9 Tribeca wasn't a hit with buyers.

Subaru

Make no mistake, the Ascent is a better positioned, more well-rounded product than its homely-looking predecessor. Originally known as the B9 Tribeca, Subaru's new-for-2006 crossover SUV stumbled out of the gates thanks to awkward styling (an issue largely remedied with a 2008 model-year face-lift) and never really recovered. It went out of production in 2014 without receiving a second generation.

With a 2.4-liter turbocharged engine and generous accommodations for up to seven passengers, today's larger and more conventionally styled Ascent is nicely positioned to take on the midsize segment's best SUVs . We're big fans of our long-term tester, and it seems consumers are finding the new model appealing, too.

2019 Subaru Ascent is a well-rounded family hauler

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Watch this: Long-term 2019 Subaru Ascent is ready for the long haul