Subaru announces CVT for Outback diesel

Subaru Australia plans to bring to market an Outback diesel variant with Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) from the first quarter of 2013.

It's the first time Subaru has coupled its Lineartronic CVT with the 2.0-litre diesel boxer. The company long maintained that it couldn't justify the expense of developing the drivetrain combination, based on forecast global sales.

But the company recently announced that the CVT would be offered with the diesel engine powering both the Outback and the Forester.

In a press release issued today, the importer's MD, Nick Senior, was quoted saying that the company expects sales growth in country areas where diesels are popular, but there's still demand for an auto transmission option.

“Diesel Foresters and Outbacks represent up to 20 per cent of sales of those models, so the addition of the diesel auto Outback for Model Year 2013 is significant news for Subaru, ” Senior said.

“We know there’s massive pent up demand for auto diesels, particularly in rural and regional areas, so it’s a great opportunity for us to meet the needs of those customers.

“The CVT transmissions in our petrol cars are a huge hit, typified by new XV and Impreza, so we can only see good things for Outback auto diesel.”

Subaru's National Corporate Affairs Manager, David Rowley, subsequently told motoring.com.au that a diesel/CVT variant of the Forester would follow in due course, although not for the current model.

"There is no definite news in that regard," said Rowley, "largely because the current Forester is due for a generational change early next year. So it certainly won't go into the current car, and we're awaiting updated advice from FHI, as to when we can expect it in the next-generation car. Having said that, we are very keen to see it, because as per our release this morning we're well aware that there is significant pent-up demand for automatic Subaru diesels."

It seems likely that the diesel/CVT package — already engineered for the Outback — should slot into the next-gen Forester with relative ease. That being the case, the diesel/CVT Forester might be available quite soon after local launch of the new model — not the two years or so it took for Subaru to bring the diesel here in the first place. As for a broader application of diesel power (and CVT functionality as well) throughout the Subaru range, don't raise your hopes. CVT and diesel look set to be limited to SUV applications, with nothing "on the horizon", says Rowly, for a diesel Impreza, let alone one with a CVT as well.

"I'm not aware of any intention to put it in Impreza at this stage. Certainly the demand that we're getting is significantly from the rural and regional areas in particular, where our SUV range — not least Forester and Outback... and new XV — tend to take a large part of our sales."

The delay in bringing the clutchless option for Subaru's diesel models to market is believed to be a consequence of raising the capacity of the CVT beyond 250Nm, something confirmed by Rowley.

"It's more to do with the engineering timeline. FHI had to do some work to ensure that the CVT capability matched that of the diesel engine. So there's been a lot of work behind the scenes at the engineering department."

According to the press release, Fuji Heavy Industries had engineers in Australia testing vehicles for the new drivetrain's development.

"I know the few people in here that have driven it have come back with a smile on their dial," Rowley reports. "They seem impressed with it and they're usually hard markers."

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