After years of being behind the competition, Subaru’s North American business is getting a fuel efficiency injection, buoyed by a number of hybrids and battery-powered vehicles it has coming to market this year and next.
The addition of the vehicles to the company’s portfolio is notably one of the last remaining areas of its business that Subaru is greening. “Subaru owners have always been eco-conscious and look for adventure outdoors with a deep respect for nature and the environment. Following our owners, in 2004, Subaru opened the first zero-landfill automotive manufacturing facility in the U.S., in Lafayette, Indiana,” Alan Bethke, senior vice president of marketing at Subaru of America, Inc., exclusively told Newsweek.
Bethke noted several milestones in the company’s sustainability endeavors: “In 2015, we launched Subaru Loves the Earth and worked with our partners at the National Parks Foundation to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills across our national parks. Most recently, we partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation to donate 100,000 trees in 2025, bringing the total number of trees donated by Subaru and our retailers to more than 1.1 million.”
The greening efforts don’t stop there. “We are consistently improving our environmental impact in manufacturing, vehicle efficiency, sustainability, and preservation of natural spaces. We’ve also publicly dedicated ourselves to more electrification in our lineup, which includes hybrids and EVs. We are proud of the progress we’ve made so far, but Subaru and our retailers are always looking for ways to continue our Subaru Love Promise,” he said.
Subaru debuted its first battery-electric vehicle, the Solterra crossover, in 2021 at the LA Auto Show. Just over 31,000 examples of the model, which shares most of its bodywork and technology with the Toyota BZ4X, have been sold. This year, at the New York International Auto Show, Subaru showed off a facelifted version of the vehicle, which has been improved repeatedly during its lifecycle.
“Since its launch, Solterra has consistently improved year over year, with meaningful updates and improvements that our owners have requested. Those include improved cold-weather charging performance, improved interior ergonomics, and more. We’ve heard a lot from our Solterra owners about those features and what they expect from their EV ownership experience,” Bethke said.
The SUV has gotten even better this year. “For the 2026 model year, we’re proud to offer additional driving range, faster charging, standard NACS charging port, more power, a larger touchscreen, dual wireless cell phone chargers, and battery pre-conditioning for even faster charging in cold weather, which are great product improvements consumers are sure to love,” he shared.
While automakers are putting off and/or cancelling vehicles that only run on electrons, given high development costs and a weak market, Subaru is confident in the direction it is headed. The marketing head shared some insights: “Subaru customers are known for taking their vehicles off the beaten path and beyond. Our internal research shows that many of our owners are still very interested in making their next new car purchase an EV, so offering an all-electric powertrain with our iconic Subaru shape, legendary capability, and all-wheel-drive performance makes sense for those shoppers.”
Experts expect the new-to-market Forester Hybrid and Crosstrek Hybrid to be even more impactful for the market. They reach customers at a pivotal time in the vehicle electrification story for the U.S. Consumers are more interested in the powertrain variant than ever. Forty-five percent say they are very or somewhat likely to seriously consider purchasing a hybrid the next time they buy a vehicle, a June 2025 Pew Research Center report found.
“The Forester Hybrid and new Crosstrek Hybrid target a growing market of compact SUV shoppers seeking electrification in their vehicles now — and more in the future. But offering a hybrid powertrain only isn’t enough. We wanted to ensure that hybrid powertrains in the Forester and Crosstrek will perform like a Subaru should. That means to us that those models are every bit as capable as their non-hybrid counterparts, but also efficient, safe, comfortable, and reliable. With the capability of Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive standard, Crosstrek Hybrid delivers 597 miles of range while Forester Hybrid delivers 581 miles of range,” Bethke said.
In addition to Solterra, Forester Hybrid and Crosstrek Hybrid, 2026 will welcome Trailseeker and Uncharted battery-powered SUVs to the Subaru lineup. The Uncharted is smaller, matching up in size with the Toyota C-HR. The Trailseeker model is more like the company’s Outback wagon.
Bethke is quick to point out that Trailseeker and Uncharted are not designed to be compromises for Subaru customers. “Trailseeker brings an all-electric powertrain to a familiar shape for Subaru owners and fans. There’s more Subaru DNA than just what you see in the sheet metal,” he explained.
“In addition to Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive and 8.3 inches of ground clearance, the Trailseeker offers more usable cargo space and ample room for passengers with up to 3,500 pounds of towing capacity and standard roof rails. It’s also the quickest Subaru we’ve ever sold in the U.S.”
The Subaru Solterra and Forester Hybrid are on sale now. Crosstrek Hybrid reaches dealers soon, with Trailseeker and Uncharted arriving in 2026.