Sept. 5, 2025 | The week’s top stories and Subaru’s Brad Evans on EVs, sales, product and more

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Hi everyone, and welcome to the September 5th,

2025 episode of the Automotive News Canada podcast.

I'm your host, Greg Lason, the digital

and mobile editor at Automotive News Canada,

coming to you from just outside Windsor, Ontario,

the automotive capital of Canada.

Today on the show, we'll hear

from Subaru Canada car line manager, Brad Evans.

He talks with Automotive News Canada publisher,

Tim Domopoulos about Subaru's electrification strategy,

new product, demographics, target consumers

and what makes Subaru stand out.

All that and more, but first,

a look at some of the top Canadian

automotive stories of the week.

New vehicle sales are starting to show signs

of stress from the broader economic slowdown

and trade disputes.

Automakers in August sold an estimated 160,000

new vehicles, that according

to DeRosier Automotive Consultants,

that marks a 2.9% decrease over last year.

It's the first year over year

monthly sales decline since February.

DeRosier says the industry is treading water,

trying to mitigate tariff impacts,

all while waiting for clarity on a potential trade deal.

In EV News, the proliferation of electric vehicles

with their lower maintenance requirements

has not led to a drop in service bay visits.

That, according to DeRosier Automotive News,

Canada recently spoke to.

But those same dealers say they expect competition

from independent repair shops

for the lucrative EV maintenance market,

especially once factory warranties expire.

Says Group Ceylon, vice president,

Alexandra Ceylon, I think the aftermarket

will invest more and more as the market grows.

Meanwhile, vice president of Sherbrooke Mitsubishi,

Maxime Boccage says the brand's only EV model,

the Outlander Plug-In Hybrid SUV,

has a maintenance schedule similar to that of an ICE vehicle.

Says Boccage, that means routine maintenance

is still very much part of our service operations.

And finally, we end with product news.

Honda is reviving the Prelude nameplate.

It returns to dealerships this fall

after a 25-year hiatus.

The Prelude's only available powertrain will be hybrid.

The 2026 Prelude is also the first to have a lift back.

Previous generations only offered a trunk.

You can see several photos of the new Prelude

on our website.

And that's a look at some of the top Canadian automotive

stories of the week.

Coming up, a conversation between Automotive News

Canada publisher Tim Domopoulos

and Subaru Canada carline manager, Brad Evans.

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in dealer satisfaction among non-captive, non-prime lenders

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With your continued support, we were also recognized

as number one in dealer satisfaction among non-captive

prime lenders with retail credit in the JD Power 2025

Canada Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study.

Contact us today at 1-855-TD-AUTO-1

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For JD Power 2025 award information,

visit jdpower.com slash awards.

Welcome back to the Automotive News Canada podcast.

I'm your host, Greg Lason.

We'll now hear that conversation

between Automotive News Canada publisher Tim Domopoulos

and Subaru Canada carline manager, Brad Evans.

Brad, the Subaru lineup has become flexible

just in terms of power trains on offer.

You know, Subaru took a cautious approach

when it came to electrification,

but now there are more electrified choices

in all electric choices coming.

Tell me a little bit about how that has evolved

over the last little while

and how it's brought us to Salterra.

Sure. So, Subaru Canada's offered

a couple of different hybrid models

in the past 10 years or so.

Two different variants of the Crosstrek were hybridized.

One back in kind of the middle of the last decade

and one for 2022, I believe.

And now we've introduced the Salterra in 2023 model year.

And with that, we took our first proper step

into the full electric world.

Since the launch of that, there's been a lot of learnings.

There's been a lot of changes in the industry

and changes in customer demand and expectations.

Subaru is a brand that's known for outdoorsyness

and getting it into nature

and kind of having that association.

So it's really important to us to appeal to those customers

also that are looking for more environmentally friendly models.

Over the last couple of years,

starting with Salterra in 2023 model year,

we've also introduced a new hybrid version of the Forester.

We'll be launching a hybrid version of the Crosstrek

later this year.

And then early next year,

we'll have our next two full electric models,

the Uncharted and the Trailseeker,

which will kind of round out our EV family

for the time being.

Those three models will complement one another.

The Uncharted is kind of the smaller sibling,

more focused for urban and city living,

makes it easy to get around town.

The Salterra is more of an all-rounder.

It appeals to younger families,

probably suburban kind of dwellings

and offers a very long range and a lot of utility as well.

And then the Trailseeker will appeal

to those families and singles

who really want to kind of get out of the city.

It offers a lot of rugged capability and styling.

It'll really appeal to those who have

those really active lifestyles

and want to drive something that really screams Subaru.

It has that very wagon silhouette

that we've kind of been known for a long time.

So it'll appeal to all of our very loyal customers

who are expecting that kind of vehicle from us.

The Salterra has gone through a major refresh.

You called it a refresh.

I call it almost an all-new vehicle,

considering all the changes that went into it.

What led to making all these fundamental wholesale changes

to the vehicle in terms of its performance and its styling

and all the other good things

that have gone into the newer version?

What was the impetus to get it done

and get it done as quickly as you did?

So when we launched Salterra back in 2022,

again, it was our first foray into full electric vehicles.

So there was a lot to learn from that launch

and from the first few model years of Salterra.

There was lots of customer feedback

in areas where we could make improvements

and address some of that customer feedback.

So like you said, it was a quick turnaround

to make such major updates to the vehicle.

And we think that we've mainly addressed

almost all of the feedback that we had.

We've got an extremely competitive vehicle now.

It's got one of the highest all-wheel drive ranges

in the segment.

So we think that the learnings from launching back in 2022,

we've really applied a lot of that to the updated model.

And like you said, it's very nearly a completely new model.

So I think customers will find a lot of value

in the new car and they'll get a lot of enjoyment

out of it and it will deliver

exactly what they're expecting out of a Subaru.

So Brad, where do you think customers

for the Salterra are gonna come from?

Do you think it'll be conquest customers?

Do you think it'll be current owners

who are gonna trade up from a nice vehicle

that they have that might be a Subaru?

Tell me a little bit about where you think

those customers are gonna come from for Salterra.

So traditionally for Salterra,

we've seen a lot of the buyers for that vehicle

come from our existing pool of customers.

So a lot of loyal customers who have an adventurous side

but also want that kind of environmentally friendly

vehicle as well.

It's very likely that they have

multiple Subarus in the driveway,

some of which they can take on their long camping excursions

and then they wanted the more kind of

environmentally friendly option as well.

So they traded in another Subaru for a Salterra.

With the new car, we expect much of the same

but also the new vehicle is extremely competitive

within the segment and we suspect

that there'll be a lot more conquest opportunities

with the 26th of the year.

We think it'll be a good mix of conquest

and loyalty for the new car.

Speaking about loyal customers,

you mentioned that there'll be a very important part

of what's gonna make the Salterra a success.

Your loyal customers are probably looking at the Salterra

and hoping to find the Subaru DNA

that they're used to in the vehicles

they may currently own in this new Salterra

and in a new electric vehicle.

So what do you think the Salterra has

for just in terms of being able to transfer over

that the expectations of this,

what makes a Subaru into this new electric offering?

It's difficult to differentiate EVs much more so

than conventional ICE vehicles nowadays.

So some things that kind of set the Salterra apart

are things like our 210 millimeters of ground clearance

much higher than most of the competitors in the class.

Standard roof rails, things like that.

Our customers are those types of people

who put a bike rack on top

or a cargo basket up on top of their vehicle

and use them for camping and hauling things.

And so the Salterra is set up

for all types of activities already.

It appeals to those people's lifestyles.

So while EVs tend to kind of blend together

in terms of the driving experience,

we can set ourselves apart on utility and capability.

It has standard all-wheel drive, of course.

And with that comes X mode,

which is kind of something that Subaru is really known for.

Helps the vehicles perform off-road really well.

And again, it kind of sets us apart

from a lot of the competitors

for customers who are looking to kind of go the extra mile

and get off-road a little bit and enjoy their car.

Yeah, there's been a major amp up in performance too

with the current version of Salterra into the new version.

Tell me a little bit about some of the numbers

that surround the performance.

Compared to the outgoing model,

horsepower is up 57%, up to 338 horsepower from 215 previously.

So it's a dramatic change in the amount of power

that the vehicle delivers.

To go along with that, it has a slightly larger battery

up just over four kilowatt hours, up to 77 kilowatt hours,

which is standard across the lineup

with that size of battery.

We now are able to travel over 450 kilometers

on a single charge, which again,

is extremely competitive in the compact segment.

In addition to that,

we also have dramatically improved

the charging performance of the vehicle.

Kind of under ideal conditions,

we can charge the Salterra from 10 to 80%

in about 30 minutes.

And while that's fairly normal nowadays for EVs,

where we really stand out from the competition

is that that same 30 minutes applies all year round.

The new Salterra has a battery preconditioning system,

heats up the battery and prepares it for fast charging

so that in temperatures down to minus 10,

it'll perform as if it was 25 degrees out

and customers will be able to kind of be able

to depend on consistent

and predictable charging times all year round.

There's also been some major changes

in terms of how customers interact

with their vehicles through an app

and also through the infotainment system, which has changed.

So tell me a little bit about the changes

in those two areas.

Sure, so starting with the infotainment,

the screen size has now been enlarged to 14 inches

and that's standard across the entire lineup.

It comes with features like wireless Apple CarPlay

and Android Auto.

Also standard are two side-by-side wireless device chargers

in the center console

because of the wireless CarPlay and Android Auto,

customers can set their phones down,

they don't need to worry about that,

those systems draining their batteries

and getting where they need to go.

In addition, the infotainment screen handles

things like HVAC duties,

it's got some clever design features

where hard buttons are kind of integrated

into the screen, so it's a nicely designed unit.

It also controls things like the battery preconditioning

system, like I mentioned.

Also, complimenting the new infotainment system,

we've got Subaru Connect,

which is an updated version

of the previous Soltera Connect app

and that will let owners of the Soltera

or Uncharted or Trailseeker when they arrive

be able to control functions of their vehicle,

like presetting their climate controls

for when they get in the vehicle,

managing their charging schedules,

finding chargers out and around the cities

and also it will allow customers

to integrate all of their different charging apps

for the various charger companies

that are out there into one wallet

that will manage all of those subscriptions

so that customers kind of just go to one single area

to pay for whatever charging session they are

at whatever kind of charger they're using.

I wanted to kind of end off the conversation

talking about affordability.

Affordability is a big issue

when it comes to all vehicles,

but particularly electric vehicles.

So with all the improvements we're gonna see in Soltera,

one would assume there would be a premium attached

to that though, what's the strategy

from a potential positioning of from a price standpoint

moving forward when these vehicles start to get delivered?

Yeah, you said it's it's the strategy

is gonna be offering really good value to the shoppers.

So like we've talked about,

there's an array of improvements

and enhancements to the new vehicle.

So it's almost like an entirely new vehicle.

There's been so much updated with it.

With all those improvements,

we also needed to ensure

that the value would be there for customers.

While we can't discuss the pricing quite yet,

what we can say is that despite all the enhancements,

the pricing will not increase from the current level.

So we can expect that customers will be able

to take advantage of that value

and still have the vehicle at a really competitive price

to be positioned to, again,

try and get some of those conquest customers

that we talked about as well as appealing

to our loyal customers.

I'd like to thank Brad for his time

and Tim for conducting the interview.

If you'd like to be a guest,

have a suggestion or simply wanna comment,

email at glasen at autonews.com.

And remember you can listen to all our previous podcasts

on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play,

or on our website, automotivenews.ca.

Just scroll to the podcast hub

in the middle of the homepage.

And don't forget,

you can follow Automotive News Canada on X

where we're at Auto News Canada.

And you can find me there too under at glasen, A-N-C.

Finally, you can find us on LinkedIn.

Just search Automotive News Canada.

That does it for this episode

of the Automotive News Canada podcast.

We hope you'll join us next time.

So long, everybody.

Sept. 5, 2025 | The week’s top stories and Subaru’s Brad Evans on EVs, sales, product and more

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