Crosstrek Hybrid DOA: Subaru Cuts an Underperformer From Its Lineup
It may have replaced Volvo wagons and Saab 900s in the driveways of the middle to upper-middle class, but Subaru couldn’t get its growing customer base to cosy up to its lone hybrid model.
Amid slow sales, Subaru has decided to cut the Crosstrek Hybrid loose, Cars Direct reports. The slightly greener variant disappears for the 2017 model year, meaning the automaker’s lineup returns to strictly gas-only offerings.
While the hybrid model has been declared dead at the tender age of three, production of the regular Crosstrek five-door continues, allowing buyers to take their Impreza to new heights (of ground clearance).
The Crosstrek Hybrid faced a simple issue, and it was all about economy. The 13-horsepower electric motor connected to the stock 2.0-liter four-cylinder warranted a nearly $5,000 premium, and the fuel economy gain was no screaming hell. The hybrid model returned an EPA-rated 30 miles per gallon in the city and 34 mpg on the highway, while a CVT-equipped Crosstrek returns 26 mpg city and 34 mpg highway.
The slight combined mileage boost (2 mpg) clearly had buyers wondering why they should bother. Subaru went to the trouble of designing the hybrid system in-house, but its engineers are probably already focused on the Next Big Thing, which likely won’t be a hybrid (unless it’s a plug-in). Crosstrek sales remain healthy, so no one’s hurting in Tokyo over the loss of the model’s deadweight brother.
A redesigned Crosstrek should arrive for the 2018 model year.
More by Steph Willems
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Subaru has been pretty good of late in dropping its models that don't sell. Sometimes a specific model's customer base howls, as one has done ever since 2008 when Subaru dropped the manual transmission option from the Forester XT, because it_did_not_sell. Given the Nissan Rogue and Toyota RAV4 now offer hybrids, and Subaru is supposedly working on new, better hybrid systems, perhaps we'll see a much better Subaru Hybrid before too long.
Even Subie green fans don't want to ante up the hybrid price premium when gas is 2 bucks a gallon. They're mostly smart folks who can do the math. I noticed my oft visiting UPS truck is now gasoline powered (was diesels for many years). Wonder if the over the top emission regs have made gasoline power a net cost winner for mid size delivery trucks?
"Crosstrek sales remain healthy, so no one’s hurting in Tokyo over the loss of the model’s deadweight brother." I must admit, when I read this, I thought to myself: "TTAC remains healthy, so no one's hurting over the loss of Deadweight."
Call me jaded over the humpy mom bumpers and dismal CVT feel in eco mode (despite what others claim)... I would be a much happier man if the Hybrid and non-hybrid versions were canceled... resulting in individuals buying a stock impreza hatch.