Subaru Solterra electric SUV teased

Subaru has begun the official reveal campaign for its first global electric vehicle – a battery-powered mid-size SUV to be called the Subaru Solterra.

However, Subaru Australia says that at this stage there’s no plan for the electric SUV, which is part of a joint-venture program with Toyota, to be sold Down Under.

“The Subaru factory in Japan confirm that there is no timeline for the electric Solterra vehicle in Australia,” said a spokesman for Subaru’s local distributor.

“However, future electric vehicle projects form part of ongoing dialogue between Subaru Australia and the factory.”

While that leaves the door open for the Subaru Solterra – and/or subsequent EVs to come from the Japanese car-maker – to be sold in Australia, the statement is at odds with Toyota’s local plans for its sister model.

The Toyota bZ4X was revealed at the Shanghai motor show last month and confirmed for Australia in 2022, when it will become Toyota Australia’s first EV and a key model in the Japanese giant’s promise to electrify every model in its range by 2030.

Similarly, the Subaru Solterra – a combination of the Latin words for ‘sun’ and ‘earth’ – will be a vital part in Subaru’s plan for EVs and hybrids to account for 40 per cent of its global sales by 2030.

But so far Subaru has confirmed the battery-electric medium SUV only for the US, Canada, China, Europe and Japan from the first half of 2022.

Asked in February whether Subaru Australia was keen to release the SUV jointly developed with Toyota as its first EV, local general manager Blair Read told carsales: “Absolutely. It’s early days – very, very early days – but like anything in the product range, we’ll review any of the options that are available and electrification has to be one of those.”

Pressed on the likelihood of the electric SUV coming here, Read said: “It’s very much a difficult proposition at this point, but it is something that we’re beginning to discuss.”

But he also flagged that there might be other opportunities for EVs within the product development cycle at Subaru.

“The future product pipeline with the factory is very exciting in terms of the discussions that we’ve been having, off the basis of SGP [Subaru Global Platform] and the developments that are happening with the performance range.

“There’s a lot on the drawing board at the moment with Subaru Corporation and that gives us real excitement as to what the future product pipeline looks like for Subaru in Australia.”

Fresh from launching the new Outback, Subaru Australia will this year release the facelifted Forester, new BRZ, new WRX and new Levorg.

They will be followed in 2022 by the new Subaru WRX STI and, potentially, tougher Wilderness and more powerful turbo versions of the Outback.

Subaru has trademarked the Solterra name in Australia and this first teaser image suggests it will be almost identical to the Toyota bZ4X.

Both models ride on the same new dedicated-EV platform, which Toyota calls e-TNGA and its smaller Japanese partner calls the e-SUBARU Global Platform (e-SGP), as part of a joint-venture that combines Subaru’s expertise in all-wheel drive technology with Toyota’s electrification tech.

“The result is a technologically advanced full-electric SUV that is also a truly capable and durable Subaru SUV,” said Subaru overnight.

No further details have been announced, but the Toyota RAV4-size bZ4X concept incorporates all-wheel drive, a relatively long wheelbase and short overhangs liberating “interior space comparable to a D-segment [mid-size] sedan”, a radical driver-focused cockpit layout with a unique steering wheel and both regenerative energy and solar recharging systems.

However, Toyota Australia has also confirmed the bZ4X – just one of 15 new EVs to come from the company by 2025 – will be “expensive” when it arrives here within months of its mid-2022 global launch.

Toyota plans to release up to seven electric bZ (‘Beyond Zero’) models and has filed for trademark protection of names from bZ1 to bZ5, with some of these being ‘X’ variants – such as bZ4X – to denote all-wheel drive.