2026 Subaru Solterra: Fresh-faced electric SUV priced for Australia

Subaru Australia has confirmed the heavily updated Solterra electric SUV is set for an imminent arrival, bringing new looks, refreshed tech, a larger battery, more driving range, and more power – but price cuts of as much as $7000.

Arriving at the same time as its updated Toyota bZ4X sister model, the facelifted Solterra boasts a substantial driving range increase of 152km, bringing total WLTP range to 566km for the base Solterra AWD. Range for the flagship Solterra AWD Touring, meanwhile, has increased by 103km to 517km.

This has been achieved through the inclusion of a larger 74.7kWh lithium-ion battery (up from 71.4kWh) sourced from Chinese manufacturer CATL, along with improved electric motor efficiency and optimised aerodynamics.

The two-model Solterra range has also been treated to significant price cuts, with the base variant now priced at $63,990 before on-roads (down from $69,990 before on-roads), and the flagship Touring at $69,990 before on-roads (down from $76,990 before on-roads).

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Orders are now open for the updated SUV, with Subaru Australia confirming to CarExpert that the first examples will arrive locally over the next month, ahead of customer deliveries commencing.

Like the bZ4X, the Solterra has received a healthy power bump. The dual-motor, all-wheel drive SUV now produces a peak power output of 252kW, making it the most powerful Subaru ever produced.

Supporting this is a whopping 87kW increase in front motor power, now up to 167kW, while the rear motor is up by 8kW to 88kW. No torque figure has been confirmed, but Subaru says there has been a “30 per cent increase in instantaneous torque” from 169Nm in the outgoing model.

The AC charging rate has been increased to 22kW from 11kW, while DC fast charging remains unchanged at 150kW, with an approximate 10-80 per cent charging time of 30 minutes.

Additionally, Subaru has outlined what seems to be an intelligent adaptive torque system. The Japanese brand says front-motor torque is increased on corner entry to assist turn-in, with this increase progressively shifted to the rear motor through the corner to assist with stability and traction.

This is aided by slight updates to the car’s suspension to improve ride comfort, particularly in the rear seats.

Headlining the interior changes is a Subaru-first 14-inch touchscreen infotainment display, borrowed from the bZ4X along with a revised centre console with dual 15W wireless phone chargers.

Synthetic leather upholstery is standard, along with powered front seat adjustment and heating, while there’s a digital rear-view mirror, heated steering wheel, driver monitoring, and a full suite of safety gear dubbed ‘Subaru Safety Sense’. This includes adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, and traffic jam assist, among others.

The flagship Touring upgrades to blue and black “natural leather”-accented upholstery, ventilated front seats, a panoramic glass roof, Subaru’s first advanced park assist system, and a 10-speaker Harman Kardon sound system. It also gets a vehicle-to-load (V2L) port.

Outside, two-tone paint options will be available for the Touring, while all models get a sleek new body-coloured front bumper and gloss-black wheel-arch cladding (overseas models have been shown with body-coloured cladding). Tweaks to the rear are minimal, though there’s a new ‘SUBARU’ wordmark in place of the six-star badge.

Rounding it off are refreshed 18- and 20-inch wheel designs for each respective variant.

The updated Solterra was first revealed at this year’s New York motor show and has since been followed by a pair of new electric vehicles (EVs): the Uncharted and Trailseeker, based on the Toyota C-HR+ and Australia-bound bZ4X Touring respectively.

While there has been no word on either of the two newer models making their way Down Under, Subaru Australia general manager Scott Lawrence hasn’t closed the door – instead outlining that the updated Solterra is “the beginning of a very exciting run of new product for Subaru in Australia”.

“The 2026 Subaru Solterra is the first step in a new wave of high-tech, multi-powertrain Subarus arriving over the next six months,” he said.

Subaru has previously confirmed it will offer eight EVs globally by 2028. The Solterra, Uncharted, and Trailseeker leave five as-yet unknown EVs still to come – at least one of which is expected to be developed in-house by Subaru rather than with Toyota, potentially as a performance offering.

In any case, Subaru Australia will be hoping the updated Solterra can turn the nameplate’s fortunes around. So far in 2025, it’s the brand’s slowest-selling model by far (142 units), outpaced by the bZ4X (797), and dwarfed by the segment-leading Tesla Model Y (17,972).