Editor’s Note: Subaru has confirmed this news in a press release on May 11, 2021. Click here to read more.
Subaru has sought to trademark the word ‘Solterra’ from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The filing is the type that comes when an automaker is about to announce a new product.
What could Subaru be cooking up? A quick look at Toyota will give you the answer. You see, Toyota and Subaru have an agreement to co-develop products together. That includes the Toyota GR 86, which is modified slightly and sold as the Subaru BRZ and the Toyota Prius Prime, which has donated its powertrain to the Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid.
A few weeks ago, Toyota revealed the bZ4X Concept, an all-electric SUV that will come to market as the bZ4X is the very near future. That concept is just the start of Toyota’s electric future and they’ve detailed what to expect a little more fully via a news release and some trademark searching.
The Toyota bZ4X Concept is slightly smaller than the modern Subaru Forester but has about as much inteiror
Photo courtesy of Toyota Motor Corporation
It’s been said all along that Subaru plans to make its own version of that vehicle, and for a long time it’s been thought that it was going to be the Evoltis. But, and this is a big but, Evoltis sounds a little more like a concept name rather than a production name. Take ‘Viziv’. That’s the working name the automaker gave to its Ascent three-row SUV when it was creating it just a few years ago. ‘Ascent’ feels more in line with the ‘Forester’ and ‘Crosstrek’ nomenclature, no? The same for ‘Solterra’.
Now there’s the Solterra vs. Soltera debate. USPTO has the trademark filing listed under ‘Soltera’ but a simple click-through reveals that the mark request is actually for ‘Solterra’. The double ‘r’ makes the most sense as Solterra would be the combination of Latin words: ‘soltis’ means sun and ‘terra’ means Earth. That fits perfectly with the Subaru company styling.
When reached out to for comment, Subaru replied, “We cannot comment.”
Even if the Solterra name isn’t used for the new EV, it is possible that we’ll see it down the road on a trim level or new style of vehicle. As they say on Reels, stay tuned.
