In early April 2025, a screenshot of an email allegedly written by Lisa (Kline) Quan, an executive for Subaru of America, made its rounds on the internet. The image appeared to show the carmaker announcing it had made the "difficult decision to pause its acceptance of sold orders," beginning March 29, in light of U.S. President Donald Trump's
One Reddit post (archived) featuring the claim had amassed more than 4,200 upvotes as of this writing. The screenshot of the supposed email also appeared on a Subaru blog site on March 29.
Subaru of America pausing new sales until further notice.
byu/ecto88mph ineconomicCollapse
The full text of the purported message, which indicated that Quan sent it to "All Subaru Retailers," was as follows:
In our March 20, 2025 Subarunet communication regarding the U.S. Auto Industry Tariffs, in addition to the other information set forth in that message, SOA committed to providing updates to our Retailers. Due to the business uncertainties related to auto industry tariffs announced by President Trump on March 26, 2025, SOA has made the difficult decision to pause its acceptance of sold orders effective tomorrow, March 29, 2025. It is anticipated this pause will remain in place until SOA has had the opportunity to more fully evaluate the business impacts of the tariff situation.
Additionally, in the spirit of Jeff Walters' March 27th letter, we would like to confirm that SOA has made the decision to not change the price of any vehicle in the pipeline which has not yet been delivered and drafted through April 11, 2025. Further information will be shared on the anticipated April 11th Retailer call. Subaru Retailers have our commitment to continue being thoughtful in our reaction to tariffs.
Respectfully,
Lisa (Kline) Quan
VP — Vehicle Planning and Logistics
Snopes contacted Subaru of America via email for comment on the authenticity of the alleged communication. The company responded: "This is not true. Subaru of America has not stopped selling vehicles in the United States." As of this writing, the spokesperson had not responded to our specific question regarding the authenticity of the letter, in addition to another letter referenced in the alleged email: "Jeff Walters' March 27th letter." Walters is the president and chief operating officer of Subaru of America.
Subaru did not publicly publish the alleged Walters letter anywhere, but a Reddit post (archived) on March 31 featured an image of a letter dated March 27 that appeared to have Walters' name and signature on it.
Tariff letter posted at my local dealer.
byu/olcrazypete insubaru
That letter read:
March 27, 2025
Subaru TEAM,
As you are aware, the President announced new auto tariffs effective April 3. As announced today, the Executive Order (EO) would severely impact Subaru's activities in the U.S.
He is imposing a 25% tariff on all imported vehicles, in addition to the existing 2.5% tariff — imposing a 27.5% tariff in total. Importers of USMCA-compliant cars may apply to the Secretary of Commerce to pay the tariff only on non-US content (this does not apply to Subaru because we do not manufacture in Canada or Mexico).
The EO also applies a 25% tariff to imported auto parts effective no later than May 3, including engines and transmissions — again, we expect this tariff to stack on top of any other new and existing tariffs. This would have a significant impact on SIA's operations. SIA is an important source of our production. They built almost 375K Subaru vehicles last year and employ approximately 6,500 associates in Indiana.
Our current plan is to wait and see if this is a temporary position from the administration or if it becomes a longer-term factor that we'll have to consider in conducting our business.
We are meeting in person with your NRAB on April 8 & 9. We will review the current situation with them and, together, discuss a strategy on how we may need to respond to the tariff situation. This will be followed by an all-retailer call we hope to schedule for April 11 so we can update all of you as well.
We commit to remaining transparent with you and taking any actions which may be appropriate to ensure our continued success- on our terms. We will control what we can control and lean into our amazing foundation and partnership with our retailers.
Best,
[Signature]
Jim Walters
President & COO
It is possible "SIA" stands for Subaru of Indiana Automotive, a car manufacturing site in Lafayette, Indiana. We called a media representative for SIA, who could not confirm whether the Walters letter was authentic as of this writing. However, the representative later wrote via email:
Since Jeff Walters is president of Subaru of America, I will defer to Subaru of America to confirm whether the letter is authentic.
Subaru of Indiana Automotive has its own president and is a separate company from Subaru of America.
SIA did confirm via phone that it employs approximately 6,500 people and built 367,673 vehicles in 2024. According to a Subaru news release from February 2023, SIA is Subaru's only manufacturing facility outside Asia.
Snopes also reached out to several local Subaru retailers seeking information on the letters. We will update this story if we receive any new information.
In sum, Subaru of America has not, as of this writing, confirmed the authenticity of either letter, nor did it comment on the content of the two letters. However, the company did state that it "has not stopped selling vehicles in the United States."