Subaru Ascent Shown More Production-Ready In NY

Subaru signaled its intentions towards launching a seven-seat SUV to rival the new VW Atlas at last year’s Los Angeles Auto Show where it unveiled the Viziv-7 concept. For the ongoing New York event, the company has decided to tone down the concept and rename it “Ascent” to provide a more accurate preview of the namesake production car coming next year.

Set to be sold exclusively in North America, the road-going model should be quite the looker if we were to rely on this updated concept. Less glitzy than the showcar before it, the Ascent concept seems to be almost production-ready on the outside, and dare we say it’s more attractive than the Viziv-7. Expect the final version of the car to have less futuristic headlights, slightly bigger side mirrors, conventional door handles, and possibly some light tweaks to both bumpers.

More significant changes will occur inside the cabin compared to the concept, which has touch panels on the doors and an interesting center console with a sky background also visible on the fully digital instrument cluster. There’s also an upper central display and sleek air vents, which will likely go through some modifications on the production model.

If you’re wondering about the SUV’s size, it’s a tad shorter, narrower, and lower than the Viziv-7, measuring 198.8 inches long, 78.3 inches wide, and 72.4 inches tall. Even so, it’s still half an inch longer than the aforementioned Atlas, but the latter’s 117.3-inch wheelbase is 0.3 inches longer than the Ascent’s. Keep in mind these are the concept’s dimensions, so there could be some changes for the production car.

Subaru has revealed the new Ascent will be assembled at its factory in Lafayette, Indiana and will be available beginning with 2018. We’ve saved the best for last: an all-new turbocharged direct-injection Boxer engine will power the big SUV.

Source: Subaru