2025 Subaru Outback rendered

There’s a new-generation Subaru Outback on the horizon and the signs for purists aren’t good.

The Outback carved a niche for itself decades ago by blending SUV practicality and capability with car-like dynamics and packaging, endearing it to countless fans across all generations and major markets.

Now however, spy imagery of the next-gen family bus shows it will step away from its raised-wagon roots and towards the boxy realm of mainstream SUVs with plenty of square edges, a raised roofline and boofier front end.

What designers look to have done is bring the famously defiant Outback into line with its smaller Forester cousin, and it’s that exact correlation that’s birthed these unofficial renders out of Europe.

Using the all-new 2025 Subaru Forester as a base, the digital images imagine a more traditional SUV shape for the next-gen Outback, so much so you can’t help but wonder if Subaru is about to kill-off the Ascent – a sort of three-row (turbocharged) Forester for North America.

The Ascent and Outback co-exist stateside, but it’s the Outback with the stronger following and its identity as a global model would likely be enough to see it absorb the smaller audience of its three-row stablemate, especially if a 5+2 or seven-seat configuration was introduced.

That would certainly explain the raised roofline and huge aperture of the rear-most side windows, not to mention the more upright tailgate and squarer end to the roof.

As for the smaller details, it’s clear the Outback will be adopting the trendy split headlight arrangement championed by Hyundai and Mitsubishi at the moment, while the grille and daytime running lights are noticeably sleeker than the Forester’s.

The model’s signature pivoting roof rails have been retained by the artist as per the disguised prototypes spotted testing in the US.

Subaru Australia has sold more than 8800 examples of the current version since the start of the year, making it the best-selling monocoque large SUV on the market, edging out the Toyota Kluger (8721) and Kia Sorento (8379) despite ‘only’ offering five seats.

Digital image: Kolesa.ru

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