2023 Subaru Solterra EV: A True Electric Off-Road Vehicle
Like all its SUVs and crossovers, Subaru’s first fully electric model will come standard with AWD. How will that position the 2023 Solterra in the growing EV market?
The 2023 Subaru Solterra will be the brand’s first fully electric model. The Japanese company might be behind a few of its competitors in the race to go electric, but in one aspect the Solterra will set
Subaru
apart—it will be one of the first affordable(ish) EVs built for off-roading.Not that it will be all alone in the 4x4 market, mind you. By the time the 2023 model year rolls around, there will be plenty of
electric SUVs
to choose from. But a large portion of them will still be firmly planted in the luxury market, and still more of them are already being marketed as more street-appropriate than trail-ready.
Like most of Subaru’s lineup, the Solterra looks intentionally designed to get dirty.
Jerry
took a closer look to see what else we could find out about the upcoming electric rock crawler.What we know about the 2023 Subaru Solterra
Like many (if not all) automakers, Subaru has been working on an electric platform to power its transition from gas-burning engines to electric propulsion. The Solterra will be the company’s first product of that effort.
Running on the eSubaru Global Platform developed in partnership with
Toyota
, it will use the Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive system the company uses for all its crossovers and SUVs. But that won’t be the only feature that prepares it for off-road driving.8.3 inches of ground clearance will help it tackle substantial ruts or snowdrifts. It will also come standard with X-MODE, Subaru’s hill ascent/descent assist system, and up to 30 cubic feet of cargo space for whatever gear you need for your adventure.
Other off-road-ready EVs expected by 2023
With an estimated starting price of $37,000, the Subaru Solterra will open the electric off-road market to a wider audience than it has now. But it’s not the first of its kind, and it won’t be the last.
Newcomer Rivian delivered its first model, the
R1T
, to customers back in September. And although it’s technically a pickup truck, the company aimed it directly at the off-road adventure market and plans to follow it up with the R1S, a true SUV.Like most electric SUVs on the market, the price points for the R1T and R1S are too high for most drivers, but many of Subaru’s more direct competitors also AWD EVs expected by 2023, including Ford (with Explorer EV), Jeep (with the Wrangler EV), and Toyota (with the bZ4X).
What will insurance premiums look like for the Subaru Solterra?
We can’t know exact figures for what
car insurance
will look like for the Subaru Solterra until it gets here, but if we compare it to coverage for current Subaru models, we might be able to get an idea of what to expect.Subaru’s most expensive SUV, the Ascent, starts at about $33,500. Average insurance rates for the Ascent are very close to the national average—$1,680 a year.
The Solterra’s higher price point and electric powertrain might bump that average up a bit, but the Subaru nameplate will probably keep it lower than insurance for other EVs.
No matter where average rates land for the Subaru Solterra, shopping with Jerry will help you save on car insurance. A licensed broker that offers end-to-end support, the Jerry app gathers affordable quotes, helps you switch plans, and will even help you cancel your old policy.
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