Subaru Solterra sparks huge interest in Australia

Subaru Australia says it has received expressions of interest from thousands of prospective local buyers for the incoming 2023 Subaru Solterra battery-electric SUV.

While those expressions of interest do not comprise a formal deposit, the enquiry level is especially strong given no formal pricing or specification details have been revealed, and the Solterra is sight unseen aside from a pre-production model flown into the country this month.

It’s also not due to go on sale in Australia until the first half of 2023.

“We’ve been amazed by the level of interest shown by Australians for the Subaru Solterra, and the sheer amount of people who have registered their interest in this vehicle,” a Subaru Australia spokesperson said.

“In a little over three weeks, we have experienced an influx of Australians registering their interest in the Subaru Solterra. This is well in the thousands.

“Expressions of interest do not include paid deposits. At this stage we have just announced the Subaru Solterra is coming to Australia, and are focused on understanding the electric vehicle market and the amount of interest for this vehicle.”

The Solterra shares its platform and key running gear with the forthcoming Toyota BZ4X under a manufacturing alliance between the two car-makers.

As such, Subaru in Australia is remaining extremely tight-lipped about the finer details of the Solterra and its timing, so as not to spoil Toyota’s reveal plans.

At this stage, Subaru will have its pick of a single-motor front-wheel drive version, and a dual-motor all-wheel drive version of the Solterra, both sourcing power from a 71.4kWh battery.

The latter doles out 160kW and 336Nm of torque and dispatches 0-100km/h in 6.9sec.

Subaru says it will reveal more details closer to the Solterra’s launch in the first half of 2023.

“With the Subaru Solterra set to arrive in 2023, at this stage we’re working through the details and more information will be shared in due course,” the spokesperson said.