Subaru Australia has confirmed the brand’s most powerful production car is heading to local showrooms, locking the Trailseeker in for a second-quarter arrival (April to June).
Revealed in April last year at the New York motor show, the Trailseeker is an electric take on the formula which made the Outback so popular, with its proportions making it more like a lifted wagon than a true SUV.
The Outback itself has now gone down the SUV route, leaving the Trailseeker to effectively fill the gap, while in Europe Subaru has even gone so far as to give it the E-Outback name, something Australia misses out on despite the long-standing popularity of the model.
Effectively a larger version of the Solterra – and a twin to the Toyota bZ4X Touring – the Subaru Trailseeker is all-wheel drive like the core of the brand’s lineup, but boasts outputs which usurp even the fastest nameplates from the marque.
Its dual-motor powertrain produces 280kW, significantly more than the 202kW managed by the turbocharged 2.4-litre four-cylinder ‘Boxer’ engine in the WRX, while pushing the Trailseeker from 0-100km/h in approximately 4.4 seconds.
This not only makes it Subaru’s most powerful production model ever but also its quickest-accelerating.
Power is supplied to the motors from a 74.7 kWh CATL battery which Subaru claims to help provide a driving range of 533km. It can be charged at up to 150kW, while also providing up to 1500 watts for Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) capabilities.
According to Subaru, the Trailseeker’s EV underpinnings haven’t stopped it from being a spiritual sibling to the Outback, providing 211mm of ground clearance (just 9mm less than the new Outback), and offering an ‘X-Mode’ system which is calibrated for a range of different conditions.
Measuring 4846mm long, 1859mm wide and 1674m tall, it’s actually 34mm shorter, 21mm narrower and sits 41mm lower than the new Outback, though it’s closer in size to its predecessor.
Subaru Australia is yet to detail pricing and specifications for the Trailseeker, which will be announced closer to its local arrival.
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