- Subaru plans to import the US-built Ascent to Japan.
- The aging three-row SUV has been around since 2018.
- Its size and left-hand-drive layout limit its local practicality.
Three new manual models was the big Subaru story of the weekend, but it wasn’t the only one. The automaker is now officially considering whether to send the US-built Ascent the other way across the Pacific, into Japan, possibly before the end of the year.
The move would put Subaru on a path Toyota, Nissan, and Honda have already cleared. All three have leaned on a new certification system Japan’s transport ministry created after the recent US trade deal, which streamlines bringing American-made vehicles into the country. Normally an automaker reworks each model market by market to meet local rules, from headlights and mirrors to which side the steering wheel sits on. This process skips most of that.
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The reasoning here is more political than commercial. Shipping left-hand-drive American cars, the big ones especially, to a country that drives on the opposite side of the road and prefers its cars small is expensive and largely pointless. It’s a gesture meant to show Washington that Japan’s automakers are chipping away at the trade deficit it keeps griping about.
The Ascent is the only Subaru produced on US soil (Indiana) that is not available in its home market, which explains why they chose it. Chances are it’ll adopt the Evoltis name used in export markets, though Subaru has yet to confirm that.
According to the company, the family-friendly three-row model “emphasizes the functionality that is essential for an SUV, and achieves a distinctive interior and exterior design.” That said, the current Ascent has been around since 2018, meaning it will be more than eight years old by the time it reaches Japanese shores.
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The Ascent is based on the Subaru Global Platform and packs a turbocharged 2.4-liter boxer producing 260 hp (194 kW / 264 PS). That muscle heads to all four wheels through a CVT and Subaru’s trademark symmetrical AWD system, complete with an X-Mode setting for tackling the rough stuff.
Worth noting, the Indiana-built SUV comes exclusively in left-hand drive, which leaves it at a practicality disadvantage in a right-hand-drive market. The 4,999 mm (196.8-inch) long Ascent might also prove too big for Japan’s tight streets, though it wouldn’t be the only one fighting that battle. Nissan recently launched the 4,900 mm (192.9-inch) long Murano in its home market, while Toyota brought over the 4,950 mm (194.9-inch) long Highlander alongside the 5,930 mm (233.5-inch) long Tundra pickup.
