The New Subaru Forester Hybrid's System Will Be Completely New
During the 13th episode of The AutoGuide Show brought to you by eBay Motors, we sat down with Bill Stokes, Carline Planning Manager, Subaru of America. Our discussion focused on a few topics, including the new 2025 Subaru Forester, as well as the WRX TR and the BRZ tS.
During our talk about the new Forester, we got into the topic of the upcoming Hybrid model. We were curious as to why it was launching so long after the gas model, and asked Stokes for more information.
“When we launched the new Forester, we announced at the same time that there would be a hybrid version of this car that would be coming after launch, roughly a year after launch”, he said, “The Reason for that, the reason for the delay, and the reason there’s some additional time in there, is that this is an entirely new hybrid system. It’s actually not related to the hybrid systems we use in other markets or in anything we’ve sold here in North America in the past.”
So, this means the new Forester won’t be using Subaru’s mild-hybrid system from the past, or the Toyota-sourced PHEV unit used in the last generation Crosstrek. It also means it will be different than the Forester hybrid currently sold in other regions.
The reason for an all-new hybrid system for the Forester comes down to one factor – geography. “It’s related to the fact that (United States) driving needs are very different from what you see in places like Japan and Europe. We tend to drive at higher speeds. The combined driving for the average consumer includes a lot more highway driving, making combined driving speeds overall higher”, Stokes explained. “So, when you talking about developing a hybrid system that’s actually going to give significant benefits to a customer that drives that way, the system needs to have more capability, a bigger motor, more power, a bigger battery, those type of things.”
It sounds like it will be exclusive to our market as well as Stokes commented that “The intention with this hybrid is to have an all-new, capable, next generation hybrid system that won’t be shared with any of our other hybrid offerings in other markets”.
He did add in other markets in that final comment, so we can only wish for more hybrid North American Subarus down the road, like a hybrid Outback or Ascent.
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A 20+ year industry veteran, Mike rejoins the AutoGuide team as the Managing Editor. He started his career at a young age working at dealerships, car rentals, and used car advertisers. He then found his true passion, automotive writing. After contributing to multiple websites for several years, he spent the next six years working at the head office of an automotive OEM, before returning back to the field he loves. He is a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC), and Midwest Automotive Media Association (MAMA). He's the recipient of a feature writing of the year award and multiple video of the year awards.
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