Back in May 2023, the Subaru Corporation updated its electrification strategy with three new battery-electric vehicles. To be launched by 2027, the newcomers will include a three-row electric sport utility vehicle. Said crossover will be produced by Japanese automaker Toyota in Kentucky.
According to a fresh report from Japanese publication Best Car, we're also in for an electric version of the Forester. As opposed to the upcoming three-row sport utility vehicle and the bZ4X-twinned Solterra, this fellow is – allegedly – a Subaru from the ground up. But how come?
The cited publication didn't explain, but looking at the bigger picture, Best Car may be onto something. As per the third page of the presentation for the aforementioned electrification strategy, Subaru clearly states that in-house BEV production will kick off at the Yajima plant sometime in 2025.
Oizumi also gears up for battery electric vehicle production, although sometime between 2026 and 2028. The company estimates that BEV production capacity will reach 400,000 units in 2028, which is a tremendous output for a manufacturer that has yet to reveal an in-house-designed electric vehicle.
Subaru aims to sell 200,000 battery electric vehicles in 2026. That's a helluva lot of high-voltage batteries, which is why Subaru will procure said batteries through its alliance with Toyota Motor Corporation. It's easy to understand the appeal of a Forester-sized electric sport utility vehicle, but alas, only time will tell whether Subaru can develop it entirely in-house or with Toyota's know-how. In any case, Best Car speculates that a 700-km driving range is possible. That's 435 miles in old money, which is more than the EPA-rated 400 miles (644 kilometers) of the Rivian R1S Dual-Motor Max Pack for the US market.
Photo: Subaru
The Forester EV – or whatever it will be named – certainly slots between the Solterra and the family-sized model. All three upcoming electric utility vehicles are SUVs. Considering the dimensions of a mid-size crossover à la the three-row Ascent, chances are that Subaru also prepares a sub-Solterra model with similar dimensions to the Crosstrek.
Except for the Solterra and boxer-engined BRZ sports car, all other series-production Scoobies available today are based on the Subaru Global Platform. The SGP was developed for multiple levels of electrification, including all-electric propulsion. However, due to Subaru's partnership with Toyota, the lesser automaker had to use the bZ4X's vehicle architecture for the Solterra.
e-TNGA is what it's called in Toyota vernacular. In Subaru's case, that would be e-SGP, which is a bit misleading if you remember that the Subaru Global Platform of the Crosstrek and Ascent is a completely different animal from the e-TNGA. Since it was introduced in 2016, the SGP was adapted for plug-in hybrid and hybrid powertrains.
Remember the misleadingly named Crosstrek Hybrid? It combined Subaru's four-cylinder boxer with the Prius Prime's plug-in hybrid system. The previous-gen Forester spawned the e-Boxer powertrain at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show. Rather than a true hybrid, it's actually a mild hybrid with a transmission-mounted electric drive unit rated at 12.3 kilowatts (17 ps or 16 hp).
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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