Subaru Announces All-New Three-Row SUV for 2018
With its top-selling models in the U.S. already comprising a trio of adventure-focused SUVs and wagons, Subaru announced today it’s expanding its repertoire with an all-new three-row SUV. Joining the popular lineup comprising the Outback wagon and Forester and Crosstrek SUVs, Subaru’s latest crossover will replace the defunct three-row Tribeca.
Related: 2012 Subaru Tribeca Review
Expected to start production in early 2018, the still-unnamed SUV reportedly will embrace the outdoor-adventure flavor of its brand brethren. It will also be larger than the seven-seat Tribeca, with “full third-row capability.” While we praised the ride quality and safety of the 2011 Tribeca in our review, one of its major drawbacks was a third row so cramped as to render it all but unusable — poor even in a class in which uncomfortable third rows abound. The low-selling Tribeca ceased production in 2014.
When this all-new SUV officially slides into the Tribeca’s slot, it will be produced at Subaru’s plant in Lafayette, Ind. That will make it the automaker’s fourth U.S.-built vehicle, joining the Outback and Legacy sedan, as well as the Impreza compact-sedan and hatchback versions slated to start stateside production late next year, boosting output at the Indiana plant by three-quarters to nearly 400,000 vehicles.
