Subaru Solterra EV SUV locked in for Australia for 2023

Subaru is joining the EV race in Australia with its new Solterra mid-sized SUV.

The Japanese car maker has confirmed its first EV, the Subaru Solterra, will be sold in Australia from next year.

“We are excited to confirm Subaru Australia will continue its electrification journey with the introduction of our first battery electric vehicle, the Solterra, in 2023,” said Subaru Australia managing director Blair Read, who confirmed Australia would sidestep the single-motor two-wheel drive version of the car that will be offered overseas.

That means the Solterra will arrive here only with a dual-motor setup driving all four wheels that ensures it is in line with Subaru’s (mostly) AWD marketing message.

“Solterra starts a new era for Subaru by combining electric vehicle technology with Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive. This delivers the all-terrain capability Subaru owners have enjoyed for decades.”

To be fair, the Solterra is more Toyota than Subaru; it’s a twin of the upcoming Toyota bZ4X, which is also that brand’s first battery electric vehicle.

That means the Solterra shares its architecture, electric drive system and design with the bZ4X.

However, Toyota is expected to offer the single motor version of the bZ4X in Australia when it also arrives in 2023; unusually for an EV designed on a bespoke EV architecture (Toyota calls in e-TNGA while Subaru refers to it as the s-Subaru Global Platform), the single motor variant drives the front wheels.

In dual-motor guise, the AWD Solterra gets two electric motors each making 80kW, for a combined peak power output of 160kW. Combined torque is 336Nm and the Solterra AWD is claimed to hit 100km/h in 6.9 seconds.

The lithium-ion battery has a capacity of 71.4kWh and is claimed to have an EV range of about 460km using the Japanese standard.

It’s unclear whether Subaru will offer the same battery warranty to that of the bZ4X overseas; the Toyota comes with a guarantee that 90 percent of the original capacity will still be available after 10 years. That’s way more than the 70 percent guarantee offered on most new EVs after eight years.

Charging the Solterra can be done at up to 6.6kW using an AC plug. That means it should take about 11 hours for a full charge using a wallbox charger or 3 hours using a home powerpoint.

Faster DC charging can be done at up to 150kW with a 0-80 percent charge taking about 30 minutes.

At 4690mm long, 1860mm wide and 1650mm high the Solterra is slightly larger than Subaru’s Forester mid-sized SUV (4640mm/1815mm/1715mm) but slightly smaller than the Subaru Outback (4870mm/1875mm/1675mm).

However, being based on a dedicated EV platform that places front and rear wheels further apart promises more interior space.

Inside, the Solterra gets the same futuristic layout of the bZ4X, including a digital instrument cluster and sizeable centre infotainment screen.

Natural rivals for the Solterra include the Kia EV6, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and upcoming Tesla Model Y. And, obviously, the near-identical Toyota bZ4X. It will in some ways compete with the Polestar 2 too.

Subaru hasn’t released price estimates for the Solterra yet, with Read adding “we look forward to sharing more about the Solterra with Australians soon”.

Don’t expect it to be an EV bargain, though.

Toyota has already warned its bZ4X will be expensive by mid-sized SUV standards and given Subaru is only taking the AWD version it’s likely to be more expensive again.

Best guesses are it’ll start somewhere north of $70,000.

Subaru Australia says it plans to build on the arrival of the Solterra with more EVs in future. Presumably other future Subaru EVs could also be shared with Toyota – and late last year Toyota gave a good insight into the broad range of Toyota and Lexus EVs due soon.