Subaru has unique standing in the automotive industry. It’s a relatively small brand. It builds just nine vehicles, most on the same platform.
Subaru engineers are like kids with Lego bricks, repeatedly reassembling the same few blocks into new things. Most automakers build a greater variety of chassis, engines, and suspension systems. Subaru engineers mostly remix.
But the brand has a loyal following and a market position most of its rivals envy. Fully a third of its small lineup makes the list of the 25 best-selling cars in America.
Unwilling to mess with success, Subaru introduces new bricks to the bin slowly. Despite its outdoorsy image, it has done little to bring hybrid or electric power to its lineup.
Subaru dealers today have no hybrid models to sell. A recent redesign of its Crosstrek subcompact SUV for 2024 removed the only hybrid from its lineup. Dealers do have one electric vehicle (EV) on the lot – the slow-selling Solterra, which makes up less than 2% of Subaru sales.
But that may be all about to change. A new report says the hot-selling Subaru Forester will be offered as a hybrid for 2025.
News Leaking Out of Dealer Gathering
This week, much of the automotive industry is gathered in Las Vegas for the National Automobile Dealers Association’s (NADA) annual gathering. The centerpiece of the annual show is a series of meetings where automakers tell their dealers about the products they have in the pipeline, and dealers tell automakers what their customers are asking for.
They don’t open the meetings to reporters, but sometimes, news leaks out.
Industry publication Automotive News reports that Subaru told dealers its “plans include the use of a Toyota hybrid system in the redesigned 2025 Forester.” The brand also revealed “new electric vehicles, such as an Ascent-sized three-row crossover that is to be built by Toyota in Georgetown, Ky.”
A Subaru spokesperson confirmed to us that a hybrid is coming, but declined to confirm the Toyota tie-up, saying “details on the powertrain will be disclosed closer to the production date.”
Observers have known the EVs were coming for a while. But the hybrid may be bigger news.
As EVs Win Headlines, Hybrid Sales Are Surging
Toyota builds some of the world’s best-selling hybrids. Its RAV4 is one of the few small SUVs that outsell the Forester. Its hybrid version is good for 39 mpg in combined driving. Its RAV4 Prime plug-in hybrid gets 38 mpg in hybrid mode after traveling up to 42 miles on electric power.
Automotive News doesn’t say which powertrain is destined for the 2025 Forester, but either would give Subaru fans a chance to own a more fuel-efficient vehicle from the brand that already has their loyalty.
Since the Forester shares a platform with the Outback, Ascent, and several other Subaru models, the move could mean hybrid power migrates into much of the Subaru lineup. Many Americans, faced with a push toward electric cars, are choosing hybrids as an easier first step.
