A few days ago, Subaru's new pure electric SUV Solterra opened pre-sale in the US market, offering a total of three models with a starting price of US$44,995 (equivalent to 292,500 yuan), and is scheduled to be listed in the US market this summer.
At the same time, the opening of pre-sales also marks the official beginning of this "niche brand" to enter the field of electrification. As the first of the brand and the product of opening a new era, it must have quite a bright spot in the product.
Of course, before we begin to dissect the power of subaru Soltera products, we must first know its background.
It is based on Subaru's latest e-SUBARU pure electric platform architecture (Toyota's e-TNGA architecture), it should be mentioned that the platform is the product of Subaru's cooperation with Toyota, that is, Toyota provides pure electric technology, and Subaru adds a left-right symmetric full-time four-wheel drive system on this basis. Therefore, the Subaru Solterra can also be called a sister model of the Toyota bZ4X.
Although sister models, the Subaru Solterra and Toyota bZ4X still have some differences in appearance details. The main differences in the front face are concentrated in the plastic parts of the wheel brow, the black circle around the closed hexagonal net, the contour of the headlights, and the fog light area under the front bar, of course, the most obvious difference is the difference in "standard".
The difference in the side of the car is not so obvious, whether it is A column, B column, C column, D column the angle curve is basically the same. If you don't tell you explicitly, this is a Subaru Soltera or a Toyota bZ4X, and you really can't tell.
Subaru Soltera has a length, width and height of 4690 mm/1860 mm/1650 mm, respectively, and a wheelbase of 2850 mm. There will be some differences in body size from the Toyota bZ4X. It is worth mentioning that this 2850mm wheelbase can be comparable to highlander.
The Subaru Solterra is roughly the same as the overall rear contour of the Toyota bZ4X. The biggest difference is reflected in the taillight group, which shows that the taillight group style of Subaru Soltera will be more rigid and presented in the C element, and can also have a good front and back echo with the headlight shape.
In terms of interior, subaru Soltera adopts the same interior design style as Toyota bZ4X, with the same central control touch screen and digital instrument panel layout. Of course, this "tombstone-style" central control screen style is obviously developed by Toyota.
In the era of electrification, this interior design style is not a "technology fan", but in some details can still feel the changes made by Toyota and Subaru, especially this floating LCD dashboard and knob shift mechanism. After all, these two elements were extremely rare in the past Japanese cars.
The Subaru Solterra will be available in two power layouts, a front-wheel-drive model with a single motor and a maximum output of 204 hp (150 kW). The other is a front- and rear dual-motor four-wheel drive model with a total output of 218 hp (160 kW) and a peak torque of 337 N·m.
Both models are equipped with a 71.4kWh lithium-ion battery pack, which runs under WLTC conditions in Japan, with a cruising range of about 460km for low-end models and 530km for high-end models. To be clear, the Japanese WLTC operating condition standard is closer to the data of practical environmental measurements.
As the leader in rally racing, subaru Solterra four-wheel drive model is also equipped with its own AWD X-Mode system, and at the same time, it has also developed a Grip-Control intelligent multi-road adaptation system with Toyota, which can be used in various terrains and enhances the grip control function for better stability.
As for the Toyota bZ4X steering system by wire, Subaru Soltera is not clearly built, but from the current partnership between the two, it is not excluded that it may become an optional or standard accessory for Subaru Soltera according to the needs of users in different markets around the world.
Judging from the information given so far, Subaru Soltera will be clearly placed in the domestic market, and combined with the previous time node information, it can land as soon as mid-2022. Of course, at present, Subaru has not opened a production line in China, and there is no doubt that this car will also be introduced through imports.
At that time, it will also compete with the Toyota bZ4X. At this point, there will be a realistic problem, to know that the bZ4X in the domestic market is through FAW Toyota or GAC Toyota domestic production, throwing aside labor costs, high customs tax rates, then in the pricing level will certainly be more sincere than Subaru Soltera.
Under the premise of basically consistent product strength, consumers without brand followers are more willing to choose the cheap toyota bZ4X.
In addition to Toyota bZ4X, like Tesla Model Y, GAC AION LX, etc. are also unavoidable opponents, they have mature car systems and large space, high intelligent driving assistance configuration, long battery life and fast charging and other advantages.
On the contrary, if Subaru Soltera wants to stand out from the crowd, it has to think more about product strength and price. Otherwise, the product strength advantage is not obvious, the price is not advantageous, and the significance of coming to the domestic market is not great.
Although Solterra is the first product of the Subaru brand to enter the era of electrification, it is not so eye-catching from the product strength analyzed above. But it is not plain, after all, it also has Toyota technology, platform, and its own unique four-wheel drive system, which may also become the biggest competitive advantage of its subsequent listing.
Of course, when coming to the domestic market, the advantage of competition ultimately depends on pricing, depending on how much sincerity Subaru has. Looking forward to follow-up information.