Melbourne show: Subaru Exiga first outside Japan

SUBARU unveiled a new model range and gave a glimpse into its electric car development program at the Melbourne show.

The new model is the Exiga six-seat wagon, making its debut outside of Japan. It will be the second Subaru model, after the Tribeca, to have three rows of seats with the third row able to fold flat.

Subaru Australia managing director Nick Senior said the Exiga offered some “innovative technology”, which GoAuto believed was a reference to the CVT gearbox available in the Exiga in Japan. Automatic will be standard.

Largely based on the Liberty’s platform, the all-wheel drive Exiga will have its boxer engine upgraded from 2.0 litres in Japan to 2.5 litres normally aspirated for Australia.



The family wagon will feature a DVD entertainment system for the second and third rows.

The other attraction on the Subaru stand is the Plug-in Stella electric prototype – as driven by GoAuto earlier this week – which features some clever Subaru electrical engineering. The company claims the Plug-in Stella has the fastest recharging time in the industry.

Despite these high current flows, the Plug-in Stella does not require a cooling system for its batteries, even though that is an issue with many other electric and hybrid models.

The Plug-in Stella also has a unique Subaru feature that varies the amount of brake regeneration effort when the car is slowing. Around town, using the high setting, the driver hardly has to use the brake pedal thanks to the strong retardation available.

On the open road, the driver can use the low recharge setting to avoid losing too much speed when there is a need to temporarily lift off the accelerator.

The Plug-in Stella can cover 80km on one charge in stop-start driving and more than 100kms on a non-stop highway drive.

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