After accidentally leaking the news online last month, Subaru Australia has confirmed its first all-electric SUV, the Toyota-based Subaru Solterra, will go on sale locally next year.
Subaru has confirmed the brand’s first-ever electric vehicle, the 2023 Subaru Solterra, will make its way to Australia in the first half of next year.
The formal announcement today comes after Subaru Australia’s website last month prematurely revealed the plans to introduce the Subaru Solterra.
At the time, Subaru Australia’s website said: “The all electric Subaru Solterra hits Australian roads in 2023, bringing state-of-the-art safety technology to an environmentally responsible all-electric SUV.”
The premature announcement was quickly removed – but not before the details were widely shared on the internet.
Now, Subaru Australia has formally confirmed the electric SUV will be available in Australia in the first half of next year – at a similar time to its Toyota BZ4X twin.
Details on pricing and specification are still to be confirmed, however other models in the mid-size electric SUV segment are priced from $65,000 to $80,000 before on-road costs.
“Solterra will be available to Australian customers from the first half of 2023, marking Subaru Australia’s step into the electric vehicle category,” Subaru Australia’s managing director, Blair Read, told media this week.
The first example of the Solterra – a European left-hand-drive model – has already arrived in Australia for evaluation (pictured below).
Developed as part of a partnership with Toyota, the Subaru Solterra shares its platform, body shell, interior and battery technology with the Toyota BZ4X.
A 71.4kWh battery pack offers up to 567km of claimed driving range, as measured against lenient WLTC laboratory testing.
Due to go on sale in Europe and the US this year, the all-wheel drive Solterra has two electric motors – one at each axle – for a combined output of 160kW and 336Nm. The 0-100km/h time is a claimed 6.9 seconds.
A front-wheel-drive version is available in select markets, however it’s unclear which variants of the new model will be available in Australia.
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