In this week’s Ask Nathan:
- Did you see this BMW EV pickup truck concept?
- You should talk about the future of Subaru AWD EVs.
- Why don’t you review Lincolns?
The first question comes from a fan who saw these images of a BMW EV pickup on another website, and may have missed the fine print.
Q: (via Twitter @NathanAdlen) You never mentioned this BMW EV pickup truck I found on CarBuzz!
I don’t know why it’s taken so long for BMW to look at pickups. They build good SUVs and this could be a part of that. Amiright?
— J. Young
Ohio
A: These renderings are not official BMW concepts.
I will say, they are good looking renderings, all based on the BMW IX electric car, which looks great from every angle, other than head-on. Sorry, but that massive grill on an electric vehicle is hard to process. You know what else is hard to process? The possibility of BMW building a pickup truck of any sort.
Now, keep in mind, they did do a design exercise where they did built a X7-based pickup. It was kind of interesting, even if it’s never meant for production.
While I’m not opposed to BMW jumping in to the pickup truck fray, it’s pretty doubtful that they will.
Then again, I never thought I would see a Ferrari SUV/crossover – yet here we are.
— N
More electric goodness comes from this next, somewhat vague question about Subaru EV AWD systems.
Q: Do you know if Subaru will keep symmetrical all wheel drive in electric cars?
How will this system work?
— Anonymous
A: Yes, it will still be called Symmetrical All Wheel Drive (AWD), but it’s not like the old AWD systems.
First of all, a majority of the upcoming Subaru Solterra is based on the upcoming Toyota bZ4X tech. Like Audi’s quattro – the name is for marketing purposes, as there is more than one Symmetrical All Wheel Drive system. Having electric motors take the place of mechanical AWD systems means a completely different driving experience.
According to Subaru:
As the first-ever all-electric SUV to feature the capability of Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive, the 2023 Solterra takes this legendary all-weather, all-terrain traction system to exciting new places. The balanced design of Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive creates uniform stability and delivers an optimal distribution of power for maximum traction and improved handling. Couple that with the smooth linear output of the dual electric motors in the Solterra and you have outstanding traction and capability on all kinds of road and trail surfaces and in almost any weather condition.
That’s the marketing jargon, but there’s no tech information here. We’ll have to wait an see what this system can do.
It’s possible that Subaru will program a more aggressive AWD system than the Toyota’s – which might be notable, but nothing has been announced. We know it will be 8.3-inches off the ground, which is not too bad, and that it has a claimed 215 combined horsepower – for the Japanese version. It all boils down to how Toyota and Subaru wish to differentiate their vehicles. Perhaps Subaru has a different setup than Toyota – we just don’t know yet.
There is one oddity about the Japanese version of the Subaru Solterra that may put it at odds with our perception of Subaru crossovers in the U.S. – a front-wheel drive version is available for their market. Given that Subaru prides themselves on AWD, I wonder if they can justify that here? There are a lot of questions we need answered.
I kind of like the looks of the vehicle, and I hope it’s competitively priced.
— N
The last question comes from a viewer and Lincoln fan who wants to know why we don’t feature the automaker on our channels more often.
(Via: Twitter@NathanAdlen) I just saw your Acura vs BMW video and I was wondering where Lincoln was?
Lincoln builds fantastic and powerful SUV like the Corsair and Aviator that are just as good and less expensive. I noticed that you guys never feature Lincolns. I’ve seen many Cadillac and Lexus videos but nothing with Lincoln in it. When I go back through TFLcar videos to find Lincolns the newest ones come from 2 years ago.
— Vin
A: Hi Vin. We would feature more Lincolns, but we haven’t had the opportunity for awhile.
Also, we do feature Lincoln whenever we get a chance, or when there’s news. You can read about the 2022 Lincoln Navigator on TFLtruck. The simple truth is, we rarely get a chance to drive Lincoln products.
— N
Check out the video Vin is referring to:
