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Subaru’s first ever fully electric car, the Solterra mid-size SUV, is set to arrive in Australia at some point next year.
It shares its underpinnings and much of its overall design with a Toyota equivalent, the oddly-named bZ4X, and will be chasing some prime competitors which are also doing well in Australia like Tesla, Hyundai, and Kia.
Subaru only announced the Solterra would be coming to Australian shores a short time ago, and most details on local pricing and spec are still to be determined. Recently at an event in Sydney though, we were also given the opportunity to get up close with the car, allowing us to make some early judgements on how it feels and how it might stack up to competitors.
Here is everything we know so far about the car based on our first-hand experiences, information available overseas where order books are currently open, and what the brand’s local division has shared with us on its first EV so far.
Subaru Australia has not yet announced local pricing for the Solterra, but it will be one of the most important numbers attached to the car. Based on its dimensions, battery size, range, and features, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect the Solterra to be Subaru’s most expensive vehicle locally, sitting above its current range-topping WRX Sportwagon tS ($57,990 before on-road costs).
Looking to the overseas order books, the Solterra is available in Japan starting from the equivalent of AU$63,646. However, this is for the front-drive version, which we may not receive (more on that later). The base all-wheel-drive car in Japan is priced from the equivalent of $68,332, which we think is more in the ballpark of where the Solterra will start, but interestingly still below the local pricing of its key rivals, including the Ioniq 5 AWD ($75,900) and Kia EV6 GT-Line AWD ($82,990).
Somewhat obviously, prices never convert directly, and the indicative costs for the overseas variants exclude the usual shipping and local compliance costs, which end up being attached to Australian-delivered examples. That having been said, signs point to a competitive price for the space, and we'd be more than happy if Subaru surprised us with a cost-leader (paticularly in all-wheel drive). Watch this space.
In all our conversations with Subaru Australia surrounding the Solterra so far, the brand has been keen to point out how important the promise of ‘symmetrical all-wheel drive’ has been thus far to its identity.
In fact, speaking to CarsGuide at the preview event, Subaru Australia’s Managing Director, Blair Read, informed us that the dual-motor setup, which was worked on as a collaboration between Toyota and Subaru, was handed over to the latter’s engineers for fine-tuning to ensure it would meet a Subaru customer’s expectations.
“Being all-wheel drive for example, that’s core to Subaru’s DNA,” he said. “We haven’t finalised spec yet, but let’s just say we have to stay true to the brand.”
Japanese specs have the all-wheel-drive Solterra possessing an 80kW electric motor on either axle, for a maximum combined output of 160kW.
We were given an opportunity to get up close with a pre-production prototype imported from Europe, and there were certainly some surprises when it came to the interior. The front seats offered plenty of space and ample width for an adult, although headroom left a little to be desired.
Meanwhile, the rear seat offered truly impressive knee-room for someone 182cm tall, with a completely flat floor thanks to an all-electric platform.
The seats were of a familiar Subaru design, while there was ample storage in both the doors and centre console, too.
USB-C features in the cabin, as does a large multimedia screen, running what appears to be Toyota’s latest operating system.
The key spec EV buyers will be looking for is range, and the Solterra looks to be competitive on this front, with a cruising range estimated at 460km for the all-wheel-drive version or 530km for the front-drive version. These are measured to the Japanese protocol rather than the more widely-accepted WLTP standard which we will be using for our comparisons when it arrives in Australia. For reference, the Ioniq 5 AWD sports 480km of WLTP-approved range, while the Kia EV6 is said to travel 484km on the same standard.
In terms of charging though, the Solterra has a 355-volt battery, meaning a maximum DC charge speed on its European-standard Type 2 CCS port of 150kW. The estimated 10-80 per cent charge time for the car comes in at under an hour, but it does fall short of the Ioniq 5 and EV6 which both sport 800-volt architectures that unlock a maximum charging speed of 350kW for 10-80 per cent charge times of around 18 minutes.
Japanese specs for the car only list an AC charging speed of 6.6kW, which would suggest a 10-80 per cent charge time on a low-speed public charger or home wallbox of 9-10 hours. It is notable the Hyundai and Kia have 10.5kW chargers, slicing the slow charging time down considerably.
Overseas the Solterra is listed as having all the key safety features you would expect from a brand-new ground-up electric car, like freeway-speed auto emergency braking, lane keep functions, blind spot functions, as well as driver monitoring and adaptive cruise control. Upon inspection of the prototype car we were shown, it appears the safety suite will be more Toyota than Subaru, based on the fact that the Solterra's windscreen did not posess the signature dual-camera setup of Subaru's EyeSight safety suite. While the final spec is yet to be confirmed for our market, this will be an interesting departure for the brand, which has even managed to bring its dual-camera tech to the BRZ sports car.
We don’t know anything about how the Australian-delivered cars may break these down by variant, or whether it will choose to make all features standard like it does elsewhere in its range. It will have to perform well to keep pace with its full EV rivals on the ANCAP front.
Mr Read confirmed the Solterra will initially be built on a Toyota production line which the car will share with its bZ4X relation.
That’s set to change in the future though, with Subaru hoping to ‘take production in-house’ and build the Solterra in one of its own plants, which are currently being prepared for the era of electrification.
One of the advantages of this, he says, is that it makes it easier for the car to meet the expected level of demand.
Aside from local pricing, variants, and specs, we don’t know yet whether the brand will be able to offer features like two-way charging, related products like a home wall-charging solution, or the particularly cool optional solar panel available in the Japanese market.
We also don’t know precise timing, with the brand only giving a vague window of 2023. Mr Read says he thinks the brand will be able to provide “adequate” supply for the initial surge of orders though.
There is also a question mark over how the brand plans to compete when it comes to the ownership front, with specific battery warranties usually extending beyond the brand’s current five-year and unlimited kilometre promise for its combustion vehicles.
We expect to learn more about the Solterra before the end of 2022, as the brand narrows down its testing regime, choice of spec and materials from the global selection, and is able to import some right-hand drive examples. Stay tuned.
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