Subaru Solterra electric SUV delayed

Subaru’s first dedicated electric vehicle – the 2023 Subaru Solterra – is running late for Australia, but the electric SUV will be just the first of eight Subaru EVs that could be sold here within the next five years.

With the all-new Subaru Crosstrek small SUV now established and the new Subaru Impreza coming in September, the Solterra will be the third new Subaru model to arrive Down Under this year.

However, Subaru Australia says first local customer deliveries of the ground-breaking EV now won’t happen until late this year, after sales commence in October – three months later than previously advised.

“Solterra will be October on-sale, with deliveries before the end of the year,” Subaru Australia general manager Blair Read told carsales.

When it does go on sale, stocks of the Solterra will be limited and customer orders will be taken on a first-in, best-dressed basis, with Australian demand likely to outstrip initial supplies.

Subaru Australia’s boss is confident the Japanese brand’s loyal following will keenly embrace EVs – and there are plenty more coming, with Subaru recently vowing to launch eight battery-electric vehicles globally by 2028.

Read indicated all eight EVs would make it to Australia, in order for Subaru’s local division to play its part in the car-maker’s plan for EVs to account for half of its global sales by 2030.

“Our customers are responding really well,” he said.

“If you look through the evolution of the brand – whether it was the likes of the WRX and what that did in the performance car segment in the late ’90s and early 2000s, or Eyesight and the safety story – Subaru owners in that core base have always been hungry for technology and engineering.

“There’s a big range on what the BEV mix will be in Australia by 2030. It’s a really dynamic marketplace. Our aim is to be in step with that global ambition, and to be one of the leading markets to bring the new Subaru technology to market. Our customer base will demand that of us.

“The next five to 10 years is going to be a period of evolution. We have new powertrains and power sources coming to market, beginning with the Solterra.

“You look at our announcements to-date, we will have four battery-electric models in the Subaru range by 2026 and eight in total by 2028. You then add in the fact that there’s movement in our core, existing models and the evolution of those. It’s an exciting time of growth for the brand and if we can carry on the Subaru feeling in those new models.”

While battery-electric technology is emerging fast within Subaru’s model plans, Read confirmed there were no plans to walk away from the brand’s dedicated combustion-vehicle audience.

“There’s not an end date for combustion vehicles,” he said. The last update on that was a commitment for 50 per cent of global sales to be BEV by 2030, with hybrid vehicles on top of that. That is quite a move from where it has been.

“I think petrol will still play a role in the range 10 years from now. To what degree remains up the air – it’s really dynamic, pending infrastructure rollout here in Australia, production capacity and how fast the evolution of that technology is.

“The customer will ultimately decide, but our brand is ready to be there across three fronts, scaling up or down depending on where the customer demand sits.”