Subaru Forester and XV e-Boxer coming early 2020
First electrified Subaru SUVs to poach RAV4 hybrid customers and capitalise on pent-up Aussie demandDemand for hybrid cars in Australia appears to be increasing – certainly for popular SUVs – and Subaru is planning to give people what they want.
The new Subaru Forester medium SUV and Subaru XV small SUV will get mild-hybrid petrol-electric flat-four powertrains, dubbed e-Boxer, from February 2020 and although pricing has not been confirmed, Subaru is upbeat about their sales prospects.
"I think it's been a big step change in peoples' minds as to what a hybrid can be, to be honest," said Subaru Australia managing director, Colin Christie, at the 2019 Tokyo motor show.
When the 2020 Subaru Forester hybrid launches along with the XV hybrid in Australia in around February 2020, they will take advantage of the increased demand for certain hybrid SUV model grades – particularly Toyota RAV4, Lexus NX and UX – which are increasingly hard to come by.
An eight-month waiting list for the Toyota RAV4 Cruiser hybrid has left Toyota floundering, but Christie suggests it is positive sign.
"That’s the thing that excites us most out our hybrids. [RAV4] has had such great success with the hybrid," he said.
"We’ve got the XV and Forester hybrids coming in quarter one, 2020. That’ll be good. We've just got to finalise the specifications and details for those ones before we get them to Australia."
Both the 2020 Subaru Forester and Subaru XV e-Boxer are powered by a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine backed up by a small lithium-ion battery an electric motor. The petrol engine (110kW/188Nm) is not particularly dynamic but the electric motor (10kW/65Nm) will add a low-end performance boost and therefore lower fuel consumption.
Like other mild-hybrid systems, drivers will not be able to drive very far on pure electricity but Subaru reckons the petrol-electric set-up will reduce fuel economy by around 10 per cent.
Despite adding 110kg of weight, Subaru says the new e-Boxer hybrid powertrain provides linear and responsive power and is backed up with the brand's symmetrical all-wheel drive system which rates highly with owners.
The only transmission choice for both XV and Forester hybrids will be a CVT automatic.
In terms of outright sales, Subaru will face a similar dilemma to Toyota in that demand is strong globally and getting vehicles into the country will be challenging.
"Unfortunately we won't get the volumes we would like to get in due to production restrictions," said Christie, who noted that having these models in dealerships makes a difference now.
Subaru and Toyota are also jointly developing a new EV, which is expected to break cover in around 2022, and the Toyota version will target European markets first.
Subaru Australia’s boss said plug-less mild-hybrids are a good introduction to electrified driving at present, but that EVs will be the next step for his company -- not plug-in hybrids.
"In reality I think the hybrid system we use, because it uses the electricity while you’re driving, essentially you’re getting benefits of the hybrid technology but you don’t have to plug it in, or find a power point.
"From our market, our interest would be [to leap-frog] from hybrid to electric. But this will be the first big step for us," he said.
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