Browse over 9,000 car reviews

Subaru's diesel drive cranks up

The Outback diesel should be ready by November, although Subaru Australia wants it as soon as possible.

"The effort has gone into getting an outback here first because our belief is that a diesel SUV has the most potential. That will be followed by a Forester diesel in 2010," says Nick Senior.

"Then we will turn our eyes to the passenger vehicle range."

He rules out a Tribeca diesel and says the push will be with Liberty and then Impreza, although that could be well into 2010 or even 2011.

"We just don't have the capacity in research and development to change them over in such a short time. The priority was Outback first, Forester second, and the other two later on."

While Subaru has been working on diesel there has also been an investigation into the potential of LPG, although the news is not good for Australia.

"We've looked at LPG and haven't got a solution at the moment that satisfies us," says Senior.

"There is a cost issue, and there are compatibility and durability issues. We would need to be comfortable with those before we brought in a factory LPG system."

 

Paul Gover is a former CarsGuide contributor. During decades of experience as a motoring journalist, he has acted as chief reporter of News Corp Australia. Paul is an all-round automotive...
About Author

Comments