Subaru is really drawing out this Solterra reveal, huh? We got very green, very Subaru-type high-resolution shots nearly a month ago, which followed a name announcement and some shadowy images in May. We’ve already seen Toyota’s version of this crossover — the bZ4X — so you have to wonder why Subaru’s so committed to playing this game of hide-and-seek. Everybody knows the thing you’re going to do, so please, just do the thing already!
While we wonder, Subaru’s supplied us with yet more Solterra media, this time coming in the form of a video from the manufacturer’s Japanese YouTube account. The difference with this video, though, is that it basically gives everything away.
Please excuse the heavy pixilation near the bottom, a casualty of me brightening the shadows in Photoshop beyond what the company’s videographers ever intended. But, nevertheless, that’s our guy!
I find this shot interesting because, from this distance, the Solterra’s strange fender treatment — something seemingly shared between it and Toyota’s version of the car — is less obvious. The expanse of black circling the front fender above the wheel arch and extending toward the front of the vehicle normally sticks out like a sore thumb, but only when you can actually see it. Here, it melts away into the side of the car, allowing us to study the proportions of its profile without distraction.
And I think it’s a great profile! I dig the tailgate, and how it’s been raked toward the greenhouse with a prominent C pillar. I imagine the thickness of that pillar may suck for in-car visibility, but everyone’s doing it these days, so I suppose Subaru shouldn’t be any different. The light in that shot hits the surfacing on the side of the car just right, accentuating the lines ascending from the floor and descending from the beltline. It all looks very strong and sharp, even if it’s not especially daring.
Is the cladding weird? Yeah, sure, but I can excuse it on a crossover more than I could on the 2022 WRX. Overall, the car looks good enough; we’ll supposedly get to drive it in person and not see it from a distance, or behind a water drop or some other obstruction by the middle of next year. But we still don’t know much of anything about Solterra’s powertrain, other than that it’ll be all-wheel drive. This is fine Subaru, totally fine. You can launch the dang car now.