Subaru confirmed on Tuesday that its electric SUV Solterra will go on sale in the U.S. in mid-2022 and revealed some more images of the upcoming model. These images included a glimpse of the interior to showcase a new interface different from any current Subaru.
The Solterra will be built on a new electric vehicle architecture that Subaru is developing in collaboration with Toyota, which Toyota calls e-TNGA and Subaru calls the Global e-Subaru Platform. As such, it is expected to be closely related to the production vehicle following the Toyota bZ-4X Concept. In concept form, the Toyota concept has a steer-by-wire system, perhaps hinting at future advanced autonomous driving modes, but that has not been confirmed for production.
Subaru has not yet revealed the dimensions of the Solterra, but it is expected to have approximately the length and overall size of the Forester, although with a somewhat lower roofline.
The Solterra’s interior is revealed in greater detail than the Toyota interior in one of the new photos, clearly showing a new horizontally arranged infotainment system, with capacitive controls for climate controls just below, in addition to a disc-style shift lever. A new generation of steering wheel controls can be seen, along with a separate digital gauge cluster just in front of the driver.
The Japanese automaker says that the Solterra will include “ample ground clearance” and, of course, all-wheel drive, through a dual-motor system. It claims that the Solterra will be the most technologically advanced Subaru ever, and that the rear seat and cargo space will be spacious, but Subaru has not said much more about the Solterra.
On a marketing page focused on the Solterra, the brand described the Solterra as “the natural evolution of Subaru’s all-weather, all-road performance.”
The Solterra will be Subaru’s global electric vehicle and its second plug-in for the U.S. Depending on the location, U.S. buyers can currently get the Crosstrek Hybrid, a plug-in hybrid offering 17 miles of electric range and 35 combined mpg.
