Featured 2019 Subaru Crosstrek PHEV will be company's first plug-in hybrid

How die hard Subarists in love with their boxer engine are going to take on this development? Among the 4 current models Legacy wagon, Crosstrek, Forester, and Outback I looked at, Crosstrek was the least appealing car to me. But now I may have to wait for the the PHEV version

 

Interesting that Tesla just announced that orders will be taken soon for Model 3 AWD! Let the race begin.

 

Did they announce what they are using for AWD? Are they keeping Subaru mechanical AWD or adapting to Toyota's AWD like the one in Rav4?

 

Subaru has confirmed that it will use the 4 cylinder boxer engine.

 

The report at CleanMPG also says their AWD system.

 

interesting that Subaru are using the Toyota drive train, which is why I posted it (sorry If I put it in the wrong place) as it seemed not to have been picked up over here

will be interesting to see if this is the start of Toyota licensing the HSD to others to speed up the spread of hybrids / plugins

can only be good as it means more volume which should also reduce cost and/or increase development

 

Awesome! I've been eyeing the Crosstrek as a replacement for my Outback. That's still a few years off; but its nice to know the option exists. I don't know that a plug-in would make any sense for my driving but there's time to settle that.

The previous Crosstrek hybrid was a mistake. It didn't have enough of anything. The performance wasn't much better, the MPG wasn't much better, and the price was no better at all.

 

Toyota owns about 5% of Subaru. Toyota and Subaru announced a while ago that they were going to collaborate on vehicle development. The Subaru BRZ and the Toyota 86 are essentially the same vehicle. So it is not an indication that Toyota will be licensing their hybrid tech to companies other than Subaru.

 

In addition to Subaru, Toyota also has stake in Mazda, and the Mazda hybrid in Japan uses HSD tech. Before that, in the gen2 Prius era, Nissan licensed THS for the Altima so they could have a hybrid to meet CARB requirements, a compliance hybrid.

It will be interesting to see how HSD is mated to Subaru's engine and AWD system.

 

The Escape hybrid had mechanical AWD. It was a system designed for a transverse engine, so changes for the hybrid weren't really needed.

 

One part of the puzzle to figure out is the transmission builder.

Historically Subaru has used JATCO transmissions. JATCO was once a joint effort between Nissan and Mazda, and is today owned by Nissan, Mitsubishi & Suzuki.

JATCO does make hybrid transmissions, but I really don't think this car is going to have one. I think what we're really discovering here is that Toyota (and possibly their subcontractors- Aisin?) are going to build a longitudinal AWD hybrid electric transmission.

Such a transmission would also be useful in future RWD/AWD Toyotas with longitudinal layouts- the Tacoma springs to mind immediately, though I'm sure there are others.

 

I don't think there has been real information sent out, other than subaru will use its boxer engine, not an inline transverse like toyota uses. Lexus IS hybrid (sold in europe not north america) has a setup for hooking hsd to an engine of similar power and orientation. My guess is they would use the prime's battery pack, maybe the camry's mg's, and the Lexus IS psd as kind of a mishmash to continue to use the suburu engine and awd system. MG1 is fairly straightforward, but they may use smaller mg2 and mg3 to have a more efficient electronic awd mode. We shall see when they release it, but I'm guessing it will have much better awd than the rav4h

 

if they plugin hybridize the Forester, one would think that will attract more customers, seeing how that body configuration is quite popular now.
.

 

CleanMPG is reporting it will use Subaru's symmetrical AWD system.
2019 Subaru Crosstrek PHEV! | CleanMPG

They might think the demographic buying the CrossTrek is more open to upgrading to the PHEV, or they don't want to sell too many PHEVs at this time. The 2019 Forester is a redesign, Subaru might simply wish to not risk complications of introducing their first PHEV in conjunction of a new design release.

 

The forester sells well because it's CUV-shaped, has great AWD and gets most trims off the lot under $30k.

A hybrid edition won't do anything to the first, remains to be seen for the second and is bad news for the third.

On the other hand, they have just discontinued the top-end XT turbocharged model, and the last time Subaru tried hybrid it was supposed to be for improved performance. Maybe they will try that again but with enough amps to matter?