One of the less noticeable premieres of the Japan Mobility Show 2023 that opened last week in Tokyo was the updated electric crossover Subaru Solterra, the sales of which are still leave much to be desired.
Solterra became Subaru's first global electric model, its premiere took place in November 2021, sales began in mid-2022, it turns out that 2023 is the first full year of Subaru Solterra's presence on the global market. Let us remind you that the Subaru Solterra was developed in close cooperation with Toyota and, in fact, is a clone of the Toyota bZX4; both crossovers are produced in Japan at the Toyota Motomachi plant. Toyota bZX4 is also assembled in China; Subaru Solterra is not officially presented in China.
Solterra was warmly received by the press, but is still selling sluggishly. The main market for Subaru is the USA, here the Solterra sold 5,763 units in the first three quarters of this year, and in Europe from January to August, according to JATO Dynamics, only 919 Subaru electric crossovers were sold; for the Toyota bZX4, the corresponding figures were 6,486 units. and 11,269 pcs. In China, Toyota bZX4 sold 12,276 units in the first three quarters of this year. We did not find publicly available data on sales of the Subaru Solterra and Toyota bZX4 in Japan, but they are definitely not on the list of bestsellers. In the ranking of the world's largest manufacturers of electric vehicles, compiled by the CleanTechnica resource, Toyota is still languishing in an honorable 16th place, and Subaru is not included in it at all.
Looking at the weak sales of the Solterra, Subaru decided to quickly update it, taking into account the accumulated comments about it. In particular, journalists and customers expressed complaints about ergonomics: the thick rim of the standard round steering wheel overlaps part of the instrument panel. Now the steering wheel of the Subaru Solterra is flattened (conventionally oval or squared) and, at least in the zero position, the instrument panel does not overlap; at the same time, the information about the battery charge on the panel has become more clear. Another ergonomic improvement is the increased range of adjustments for the driver's seat; it will be easier for tall people to find a comfortable seating position.
< p>The list of updates includes an improved battery thermal management system: Subaru claims that at -10 degrees Celsius, the time to charge the battery to 80% at 90 kW has been reduced by 30%, but does not provide specific figures. The list of electronic driver assistants has been expanded: a traffic jam autopilot and a lane change assistant have appeared, and the automatic emergency braking system now recognizes dangers not only in front of the car, but also behind it.
All of the above updates will probably soon be available for the Toyota bZX4. The power plants are the same: in Japan, the Subaru Solterra is available not only with all-wheel drive, but also with front-wheel drive – this is the basic version with a single electric motor with a power of 150 kW (204 hp). The maximum total power of the all-wheel drive dual-motor version is 160 kW (217.5 hp). The battery capacity is 71.4 kWh, the range on one charge is 416-500 km according to the WLTP cycle, depending on the modification.
We would like to add that in the spring of this year Subaru has a new CEO: Tomomi Nakamura was replaced by Atsushi Osaki, but he has not yet announced any radical changes. While Subaru lives mainly on sales of “hydrocarbon” models in the USA, it does not have a clear electrification strategy, but it seems like Solterra will soon have a sports version, and at the Japan Mobility Show 2023 a conceptual electric coupe Sport Mobility was also presented, it is in theory may in the future replace the BRZ model.
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