SUBARU LAUNCHED its first diesel engine in Europe back in 2008, starting with the Legacy (Liberty in Australia) before expanding to the Impreza and Forester lines. The diesel version of the Legacy has proven especially popular, accounting for over 50 percent of Legacy sales in Europe.
Japanese business daily Nikkei has reported that Subaru will now launch an updated version of its diesel range in Japan in 2011 as part of its plan to meet Japan’s strict new emissions regulations.
TMR spoke with Subaru Australia National Corporate Affairs Manager, David Rowley, who confirmed that Subaru will launch its first diesel in Australia this year in the form of the Outback, with a likely market debut in early December.
Rowley said that an expanded diesel range in Australia will hinge on the success of the diesel Outback.
“We are expecting to announce the diesel Outback early in December, and depending on consumer interest, we will look at bringing in diesel versions of the Liberty, Impreza and Forester,” he said.
Subaru is also working to release its all-electric Stella supermini in Japan this year, with a Subaru and Toyota jointly developed hybrid model due in 2012.
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will it have an auto box????????
Hi Auto,
Great question, apologies for not touching on that earlier. The Outback Diesel will initially be offered with a manual transmission only, and Subaru Australia is unable to confirm at this point when or if we can expect an automatic transmission to join it.
my understanding, in Japan, you basically have to replace your engine after a few years due to emissions rules. This means the longer lifetime of a Diesel engine has no value there and the increased cost of the engine hurts you multiple times if you keep the car. Seems like a losing combination to me.
I would say its better Working On electric Stella supermini
Surely it would make more sense to launch it with the Forester first?
They badly need an auto box to go with the diesel though.
I agree, not a real fan of the Outback, the diesel Forester is what I would be buying, until such time I will keep my current Forester.
Along with my Brumby - when is the Forester Ute comming (in my dreams).
What is it with the manufacturers?Give us an automatic!!
I was interested in the Skoda Scout.It showed promise with a good TDI engine and seems to tick all the boxes but only comes as a manual.I had deleted Subaru Outback because it didnt have TDI engine choices. I was very excited to hear that Subaru was indeed going diesel- now I hear it is also manual.
Thank God for the Manual. Finally a manufacturer that doesn’t think that because you need a big enough car to fit kids in you also forgot how to drive and lost interest in the enjoyment of a manual gearbox! We have had to write off so many other cars due to them only coming in auto. Now we will be able to upgrade our old Outback, it’s just a shame the larger engine in petrol only comes in auto or we would have considered that, guess the deisel will have to do.
Subaru are currently working on a CVT transmission to handle 400nm of torque, when this gearbox is developed it will make its way into the diesel, along with the 3.6 petrol engine.
A diesel, with an auto…shoot me now. Diesels are boring enough, mating it wiht an auto would be the most boring drive ever, esepcially a cvt.
europes got it right - manual diesels are the way to go.
Don’t just flag the issue. Tell us the size and specs of the engine. If it’s going to be a 2.0 litre diesel I will go elsewhere. I have had 2 Outbacks over the last 6 years but they look increasingly expensive and poor value for money compared to the more powerful (and expensive) and better spec’d Audi alternatives.
Peter, Malvern, Victoria.
as a subaru outback owner i have been waiting for details of the new diesel model.having looked at the web site i am disappointed to find very limited info- no motor size or details-no price range .why no automatic-is there a premier model
all the cars everyone has discussing are all great cars ….but has anyone compared sevicing cost & maintaince ..oh! & the resale prices after 3-5 years on the europeans cars compared again to the whole subaru range ? lets compare apples with apples .
the diesel engine is a 2.0Lt,110kw,350Nm
Subaru don’t have a CVT to handle the diesel torque and they don’t want to put their 5 speed auto on for some reason that’s not clear to me. The 5 speed auto already handles 350NM torque.
The 6 speed manual is good but there’s a lot of gear changing to keep the engine humming between 1800 and 2400 rpm, where all the torque is. Also, it’s easy to stall in first on take-off. The good thing is that you don’t have to change gears on the open road. It’s doing 1800 rpm at 100k/h so will power up hills without changing down.
Subaru don’t have a CVT to handle the diesel torque and they don’t want to put their 5 speed auto on for some reason that’s not clear to me. The 5 speed auto already handles 350NM torque.
The 6 speed manual is good but there’s a lot of gear changing to keep the engine humming between 1800 and 2400 rpm, where all the torque is. Also, it’s easy to stall in first on take-off. The good thing is that you don’t have to change gears on the open road. It’s doing 1800 rpm at 100k/h so will power up hills without changing down. BTW, the Subaru is a much better car than a Skoda Scout - it has full-time AWD for a start.