New Subaru Forester launched in Taiwan; Malaysian launch in 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: Motor Image, the official distributor of Subaru cars in the Asian region, has held a regional launch of the Forester SUV. This latest generation of the car is undoubtedly the best that the company offers in the Taiwan region, the current place of launch.

The fifth-generation model of the Subaru Forester is quite a bit of an upgrade over the previous generation despite being a lot similar to its predecessor. The car now sees an increased wheelbase of 30 mm, which results in 33 mm of extra space for the rear occupants. Also, the boot space has been increased by 134 mm.

Under the hood, the new Forester will be powered by a 2.0-litre naturally aspirated motor which could churn out a maximum power of 156 PS along with a peak torque of 196 Nm. However, the company has said that the XT turbocharged version will not be offered. The power will be sent down to all the wheels via a Lineartronic CVT.

At the launch event, Mr. Glenn Tan, who is the Managing Director of Tan Chong International Ltd, has said that the company is absolutely thrilled about the launch of the new fifth generation of the Forester SUV and is very confident that it will be a great excitement to all the prospective customers. Tan Chong International Ltd. is the parent company of Motor Image.

The Taiwanese region will have four variants of the car available, which are 2.0i-L, 2.0i-L EyeSight, 2.0i-S, and 2.0i-S EyeSight. That said, the Philippines market would be getting just the S and S-EyeSight versions.

The same setup is expected for the Malaysia market as well and there would be no turbo option. However, the launch still looks very far off, sometime by mid-2019.