2023 Subaru Crosstrek coming early next year

Subaru Australia has slated the new 2023 Subaru Crosstrek for local release in the first quarter of next year.

A replacement to the long-running Subaru XV small SUV, the new Crosstrek will arrive in Australia early next year in four different variants and with two powertrain choices – 2.0-litre petrol and 2.0-litre hybrid.

Speaking with press in Sydney recently, Subaru Australia managing director Blair Read confirmed the Crosstrek’s local timing.

Read said he was confident the new Crosstrek nomenclature, which officials had agreed was a better fit for the brand locally, would resonate with Australian buyers.

“Crosstrek will arrive in the first quarter of 2023,” Read confirmed.

“The name is a collaboration. We thought XV had got to the point, with the change of the product range coming… it was a good time to change across to Crosstrek and reposition that product as the entry into the brand, our small-size SUV.

“It was time to make that change and it was a collaboration [between Subaru Australia and Subaru HQ in Japan].”

Homologation data recently revealed by carsales shows Subaru will offer a two-grade, two-powertrain Solterra model line-up totalling four variants compared to the outgoing Subaru XV’s five.

Said grades will include the familiar ‘L’ and ‘S’ nameplates – but no Premium variant – whereas the powertrains will once again consist of a naturally-aspirated 2.0-litre flat four-cylinder petrol, which also forms the basis of a petrol-electric hybrid system.

The exact model range will be made up of the 2.0i-L, Hybrid L, 2.0i-S and Hybrid S variants in that order, with the raw data indicating that the two powertrains are being carried over from the existing model – with identical outputs of 115kW and 110kW respectively.

Inside the cabin, Subaru’s new small SUV will come with an 11.6-inch vertical infotainment screen, paddle shifters, new seats and a generally redesigned cockpit.

Read is adamant the Crosstrek will neatly slot into Subaru’s existing line-up.

“When you look at the range and you go ‘Forester, Outback, Solterra’, Crosstrek fits in there really nicely and Crosstrek says what the car is and what it does,” he said.

“XV has been a really strong nameplate for the brand and it has found a lot of driveways in Australia, but I think Crosstrek will now take it to another level.”

So far this year in Australia’s small mainstream SUV market segment, which is 1.5 per cent down, the Subaru XV has found more than 8000 homes (down 8% year-on-year), placing it behind only the MG ZS (19,410), Mazda CX-30 (12,975) and Hyundai Kona (11,082).

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