We now have a potential name to put to Subaru’s first plug-in hybrid, slated to go on sale by the end of this year: Evoltis.



The U.S. trademark filing, made last month by Subaru Corporation (of Japan) rather than by the U.S. distributor, Subaru of America, was given code 1B, which means “intent to use.” The paperwork, of course, doesn’t commit Subaru to using the name—it could be a name for the hybrid system, the complementary charging hardware, or a Subaru plug-in “ecosystem,” for instance—and Subaru of America declined to comment to C/D on its significance.

What is a done deal is the vehicle’s timing. The plug-in hybrid is due by the end of the year, as it’s a required element for the automaker to comply with California Zero Emission Vehicle regulations. Subaru also has plans for an electric car, but that’s a much farther-off possibility.

Earlier this year, Subaru chief technical officer Takeshi Tachimori said that the automaker has “used Toyota’s technologies as much as possible” for the plug-in hybrid. From that, we’ll extrapolate that it will almost certainly borrow off-the-shelf technology from the Toyota Prius Prime. And it would be out of character for Subaru not to combine that with a version of Toyota’s E-Four all-wheel-drive system—with a third electric motor for the rear wheels—that’s offered on the Prius in Japan.

While the Subaru plug-in hybrid is likely to be a great leap beyond the underwhelming Crosstrek hybrid, we don’t expect it to match the Prius Prime’s EPA-rated 25 miles of all-electric driving range. But offering all-wheel drive in a crossover-like body should give this model some appeal. And if the Evoltis model name fails to pass focus-group muster, may we suggest BRAT-E or Just-E?

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