Seventh-gen 2026 Subaru Outback revealed

---

The new seventh-generation Subaru Outback has debuted at the 2025 New York Auto Show with a boxy new exterior styling that firmly plants the popular 4×4 wagon in SUV design territory.

After three decades, the Outback looks to firmly shake its Liberty-Wagon-on-stilts aesthetic with a taller, edgier exterior design that’s now certifiably SUV in form and proportions. 

To debut as a 2026 model, the new Outback features a bluff front fascia with a flipped ‘stacked’ lighting arrangement, with driving lights mounted high and headlights located below, as is the contemporary trend spearheaded by the likes of rival Hyundai.   

Promising more interior room than the current sixth-generation, the 2026 revamp features a higher roof – around 50mm taller – and squarer glasshouse key lines, its blocky look in line with the latest Forester.

Measuring almost 4.9 metres in length, the 2026 Outback is now around 25mm longer, promising more rear legroom and bootspace. The vastly squarer rear end is also slightly reminiscent of Toyota’s now ageing RAV4.

Inside, the interior design is cleaner and less fussy than the current Outback. In the specification debuted at New York, the US version fits a floating 12.1-inch touchscreen rather than the fascia-integrated media screen in the existing design.

The driver gets a 12.3-inch fully digital display. 

The US market has confirmed that the 2026 Outback lineup grade walk will include Premium, Limited, Touring, Limited XT, Touring XT and flagship Wilderness trim levels, which aligns with the existing 2025 line-up. No word yet of forthcoming Australian market choices.  

The entry powertrain option is the familiar 135kW 2.5-litre boxer petrol four. A higher-power 195kW turbocharged 2.4-litre engine will also be offered in pricier grades back, of course, by Subaru’s symmetrical all-wheel drive.

US pricing is yet to be revealed though many US media outlets are predicting a modest price hike over the current line-up. 

Stay tuned to Chasing Cars for more news on the 2026 Subaru Outback as further details come to hand.