Subaru Tribeca

Subaru has teased its upcoming seven-seat SUV, the Ascent, on Twitter ahead of its debut at the Los Angeles motor show. With styling derived from the Ascent Concept (below) launched in New York this April, the car is designed to go head-to-head with the VW Atlas in the USA.

There’s little if any chance Australia will get a new seven-seat SUV built by Subaru. The brand is understood to be working on a replacement for the Tribeca, which will sit above the Outback as the company’s largest model. It will be the most expensive car the brand sells – well, at least in the markets that will get the car.

The official word from Subaru is that the company has no future plans to offer a seven-seat SUV in Australia, despite developing a yet-to-be-revealed larger and more family-friendly alternative to Forester for the USA market.

Subaru has made a strong start to 2010 selling 3,260 vehicles in January - a 7.8 per cent jump on the same month last year. Leading the charge is the group's Subaru Forester model selling an impressive 1,205 units for the month. January also saw strong sales of the new generation Subaru Liberty (654 units) and Subaru Outback (435 units) models which are already proving to be a huge success for the brand.

Recently we posted the Holden Barina Crash test video, whilst many couldn't believe just how bad the "Australian Holden" performed. It came at no surprise to us. So this is the Subaru Tribeca, which got a five-star safety rating. Notice the minimal damage to the cabin. All frontal tests are conducted at 64km/hr.