The first-generation electric vehicles from legacy car manufacturers will be not as efficient as current generation Teslas. Why do we say so? Because Tesla has a 15-year head start. And no matter how much reverse engineering or many electric vehicle supplier acquisitions legacy car manufacturers make, the likes of Audi, BMW and Toyota, etc, they are all playing catch up with Tesla. And Subaru joins the race to electrify with the all-new, all-electric Solterra SUV. It is a joint manifestation with Toyota and therefore leans heavily on the similarly styled Toyota bZ4X that was revealed last month.

Whereas the Toyota bZ4X will be aimed at a family-orientated market, the Subaru Solterra will be aimed at the outdoor lifestyle market. With family-friendly marketing thrown in for extra measure. Subaru is a bigger brand in the USA than it is in Europe, with over 700K sales vs 50K respectively every year. The outdoor lifestyle market has a big appeal in America.

Toyota and Subaru have combined (as they often do) to jointly develop the underlying EV architecture and 4-wheel drive system. Indeed Subaru has developed electric motors, two in total, that have a total system power of 214bhp. The Solterra will be offered with entry-level front-wheel-drive variants and of course flagship 4×4 variants.

The Subaru Solterra is powered by a 71.4kWh battery pack and is said to offer a 280-mile range. Subaru will officially reveal the Solttera at an event in Los Angeles, 1 week from today.