NYIAS 2017: Subaru Goes Big - Real Big - With the Ascent

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

The Subaru Ascent concept SUV unveiled today at the New York International Auto Show heralds a very real vehicle with similar proportions, styling, and name.

While the model’s name aptly describes the automaker’s sales performance, the Subaru brand hasn’t fielded a large-ish utility vehicle since the slow-selling, second-generation Tribeca disappeared after 2014. With the Ascent, due to appear in production form in 2018, the brand delivers a three-row, seven-passenger vehicle with a wheelbase that’s longer than a Chevrolet Tahoe.

Incorporating massive fender bulges and a towering, blunt grille flanked by C-shaped corporate running lights, this vehicle represents a stark contrast to the Outbacks and Crosstreks so beloved by the buying public. It also gives Subaru its best chance to muscle into the fertile midsize CUV/SUV segment.

Scheduled to be built at the brand’s Lafeyette, Indiana assembly plant, the Ascent boasts 117 inches of wheelbase and a new, unspecified turbocharged Boxer engine. Expect that mill to displace 2.4 liters. Underneath, you’ll find a modified (read: stretched) version of the Subaru Global Platform.

Inside, Subaru has opted for the executive ambiance of having two second row seats separated by a wood-trimmed console, leaving the three-person bench in the rear. Much of the gee-whiz gadgets found inside this concept won’t see the light of day in a dealer lot, however. The touchscreens that serve as window switches will surely never appear in a production vehicle.

Since 2011, Subaru’s U.S. sales have risen from 266,989 units to 615,132 recorded last year. Building a larger utility model, especially one that doesn’t offend the senses (like the first-gen Tribeca), could open new sales doors.

[Image: Steph Willems/The Truth About Cars]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • SuperCarEnthusiast SuperCarEnthusiast on Apr 14, 2017

    CVT and only a 2.4L turbo inside will have another underpower Subaru crossover! Wait, maybe they do both supercharge as well as turbocharge engine! But very much doubt it since they could use the WRX engine too but the management wants to keep high performance engines away from there crossovers line!

  • Big Al from Oz Big Al from Oz on Apr 17, 2017

    Yuck!

  • 1995 SC At least you can still get one. There isn't much for Ford folks to be happy about nowadays, but the existence of the Mustang and the fact that the lessons from back in the 90s when Ford tried to kill it and replace it with the then flavor of the day seem to have been learned (the only lessons they seem to remember) are a win not only for Ford folks but for car people in general. One day my Super Coupe will pop its headgaskets (I know it will...I read it on the Internet). I hope I will still be physically up to dropping the supercharged Terminator Cobra motor into it. in all seriousness, The Mustang is a.win for car guys.
  • Lorenzo Heh. The major powers, military or economic, set up these regulators for the smaller countries - the big guys do what they want, and always have. Are the Chinese that unaware?
  • Lorenzo The original 4-Runner, by its very name, promised something different in the future. What happened?
  • Lorenzo At my age, excitement is dangerous. one thing to note: the older models being displayed are more stylish than their current versions, and the old Subaru Forester looks more utilitarian than the current version. I thought the annual model change was dead.
  • Lorenzo Well, it was never an off-roader, much less a military vehicle, so let the people with too much money play make believe.
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