If the company’s contribution to the Uncharted was largely AWD tuning, ride, and safety … what makes it a Subaru?
Subaru unveiled its third dedicated electric vehicle Thursday night, a compact hatchback roughly the size of its Crosstrek, to be known as the Uncharted.
The 2026 Subaru Uncharted is 7 inches shorter than its Solterra, which first went on sale for 2023, let alone the longer Trailseeker electric wagon/SUV, which goes on sale earlier next year.
Charged attended the debut in New York City and spoke with Chris Charles, the planning manager for the new Uncharted, and Garrick Goh, who has the same title for the larger Solterra and Trailseeker EVs.
They said that while development costs for the Uncharted—and its Toyota twin, the C-HR—were split 50-50 between Subaru and Toyota, each company was responsible for its own areas of expertise on the final vehicle.
Toyota handled the powertrain, including the battery, electric motors, and power electronics, areas in which Subaru had little experience.
Subaru, on the other hand, controlled the all-wheel-drive tuning, the ride and handling, and many of the safety aspects.
The design, Charles said, had input from both sides.
Nevertheless, the new Uncharted shares its basic structure and most of its sheet metal with the Toyota C-HR revealed in May.
It has Subaru’s new and distinctive front end design, with a flat panel that holds a trapezoidal opening with the Subaru six-star badge representing the Pleiades star cluster.
The badge is illuminated, which definitely makes an impression in dimmer light.
NACS port standard, 300 miles with FWD
While it may parallel the Crosstrek in Subaru’s growing EV lineup, the Uncharted is almost twice as powerful: it’s rated at up to 252 kilowatts (338 horsepower) for the EV versus 152 or 182 horsepower for the gasoline Crosstrek.
A Premium FWD base model (“available in limited numbers”) uses a single 163-kw (221 hp) motor powering the front wheels.
It’s the first front-wheel-drive Subaru offered for sale in roughly 30 years, since the last FWD Impreza and Legacy models of the mid-1990s.
All versions are powered by a 74.7-kilowatt-hour battery.
For the 2026 model year, all Subaru EVs will come standard with a NACS charging port rather than the CCS port used on the 2023-2025 Solterra.
Subaru plans to provide two adapters: a J1772-to-NACS adapter for Level 2 charging at up to 11 kilowatts, and a CCS-to-NACS adapter for DC fast charging at up to 150 kW.
Subaru quotes a fast-charging time of 10 to 80 percent of “nearly 30 minutes” (we presume that means slightly more than half an hour) under ideal circumstances.
Battery preconditioning while en route to a charging station will bring it to the optimum temperature for recharging.
Ranges for the 2026 Uncharted vary with trim level and equipment; the Sport and GT all-wheel-drive versions are projected at 290 miles, while the Premium FWD model will come in at more than 300 miles.
That 300-mile mark is the point at which shoppers stop worrying about EV range, said Garrick Goh, product manager for the Solterra and Trailseeker.
He noted the first three years of Solterra were rated at 222 to 228 miles, which proved to be too little for many shoppers to feel comfortable, Goh said.
Surveys showed a version with 300 miles ended those worries. (GM has said exactly the same for a few years now.)
The upcoming 2026 Solterra will be rated at 285 miles, likely close enough to alleviate most worries.
All but the FWD model have not only Symmetrical All-Wheel-Drive (a Subaru trademark) but the company’s X-Mode Dual Mode selector, which adjusts traction control, braking, and power delivery for different terrains selected by the driver.
Given Subaru’s prevalence in snowy climates, every Uncharted version comes with an All-Weather package that includes heated front seats and mirrors, and wiper de-icing.
Also standard are a power rear liftgate and a driver-distraction monitoring and alert system.
The car’s 14-inch center touchscreen includes Android Auto and Apple CarPlay phone mirroring as standard, and dual wireless phone chargers sit in the front console.
Rear-seat passengers can charge their devices on a pair of USB-C ports. Wheels come in various 18- and 20-inch versions.
When it goes on sale early in 2026, the Subaru Uncharted will compete with the Hyundai Kona Electric and the Kia Soul EV, neither of which offers all-wheel drive.
That list will likely also include the 2026 Chevrolet Bolt EV that GM will reveal in September or October, an updated version of the 2022 Bolt EUV model with a new, larger battery pack; new drive motor; and new power electronics.
The new Nissan Leaf may also be a competitor.
Subaru will release final specifications, trim details, and pricing close to the car’s on-sale date.
Whither Subaru in an EV age?
In assessing a new model like the 2026 Uncharted, a question often discussed among automotive reporters—and, internally at Subaru even more, it turns out—is simply: “If it doesn’t have a horizontally opposed engine, what makes a Subaru a Subaru?”
As Subaru’s North American audience has grown, its product managers suggest the boxer engine has become less and less important in the eyes of shoppers.
While drivers may appreciate the lower center of gravity provided by that configuration against cars with upright inline engines, they are far more interested in the values shown in every Subaru advertisement: safety, durability, and adventure.
As Goh put it, the “upscale practical” buyers of Subarus these days want a vehicle that enables their “outdoor lifestyle”—including the ability to haul gear (equipment for hiking, climbing, kayaking, sailing, etc.) and travel with their pets.
“If REI sold cars,” Goh said, “They’d have something like a Subaru in their stores.”
And while every maker of every compact SUV is now compelled to show it on rocky trails or next to a campfire surrounded by young, attractive, ethnically diverse people having fun … Subaru actually walks the walk, because its owners do the same.
Here’s the problem: Pretty much any battery-electric crossover SUV with all-wheel drive can easily be tuned to provide “symmetric all-wheel drive”.
So what differentiates a Subaru?
Goh and Charles fell back on suspension tuning and software, along with more practical features on some models: roof rails that are actually usable to mount all that gear, Thule carriers included, versus the less functional, more decorative ones used elsewhere.
The company has its own, dedicated scalable architecture for all models it sells in North America, designed specifically around its boxer engines.
So will Subaru ever develop its own dedicated EV platform?
The reflexive, expected response from one of the product managers we spoke with was, “We don’t comment on future products.”
After a long pause came one more word: “Maybe?”
Meanwhile, Subaru now has three incrementally modified versions of Toyota EVs—and we rather suspect that Number Four, due to be unveiled sometime next year, will be the same.
We look forward to driving the updated 2026 Solterra, and the new 2026 Uncharted and Trailseeker, before they reach customers early in 2026.
Subaru provided lodging and meals to enable Charged to bring you this first-person report.
