Subaru achieved a record monthly sales total in October, according to official VFACTS figures released today.

Subaru retailed 2807 vehicles, 446 units ahead of October 2002.

This represents 3.5 per cent of the total vehicle market for the month.

Sales were consistently strong across the Subaru range. Liberty (Legacy) sold 726, compared to 393 last October. Outback sold 540, against 482 in the same month last year.

Forester totalled 944 and Impreza 597.

The Forester and Outback figures combined gave Subaru a commanding 23.6 per cent of the SUV compact sales segment in October. Nick Senior, General Manager, Subaru Australia said: "This is our best monthly sales volume on record.

It is the second time this year that we've broken our record and it reflects an exceptionally strong start for new Liberty (Legacy) and four cylinder Outback.

"Supply of some models is out to January, even February in some cases, so we must apologize for any inconvenience to customers," he said.

"However, demand is outstripping supply, especially on some of the range topping Outback and Liberty (Legacy) models.

"The result could have been better if we'd had more (turbocharged) Forester XTs. Nevertheless, Subaru is number one in the compact SUV segment, with a 23.6 per cent market share.

"Now we have Outback 3.0R joining the range and we expect a strong run to the end of the year, with 29,300 sales looking achieveable.

"Year to date, our sales are ahead by 446 units."