Potential for local availability of Wilderness editions of Subaru’s other petrol off-seal-sorted SUVs has firmed.

OPPORTUNITY for the tough-look Wilderness formula applied to the latest Outback being shared to other Subaru off-road capable cars sold here seems to have elevated.

The Wilderness look now seen on the flagship Outback that will be on sale from mid-year was originally conceived for North America.

Over there, it also applies to the Forester and Crosstrek. The latest Wilderness versions of those are pictured today.

Subaru New Zealand has long sought all those editions, but this market needed a powerful ally to make that wish come true.

Now it has one, with Subaru Australia having joined the chase.

Both operations are run by a common distributor, Inchcape, and Subarus sold here are to exact same calibration as in Australia.

Subaru NZ first shared thought about achieving at least one model from the full suite of Wilderness products four years ago, when the configuration only applied to left hand drive. Back then, it determined Outback was the best starting point.

The local management has since changed, but the desire is clearly there, with two versions of the Wilderness Outback now incoming around July.

But what of Forester and Crosstrek?

Subaru Australia’s management leader, Scott Lawrence, has impressed upon media across the Tasman that harder-core variants of those are also probable for this region.

“It is a constant discussion with Subaru Corporation about expanding Wilderness,” Lawrence told the carsales.com website at Australia’s media event for the sixth-generation Outback, which preceded a NZ launch staged just over a week ago.

All Wilderness models follow a similar recipe of increased ground clearance, revised bumpers, shorter gearing (final drive ratio), beefier underbody protection and a second ‘X-Mode’ off-road drive mode.

Anodised copper accents and a few other garnishes add some extra cosmetic flare to the otherwise fully functional suite of upgrades.

All Wilderness products thus far have been internal combustion-only, which raises questions about whether the Forester hybrid variants will be eligible.

Though also designed for off-road driving, Subaru’s two electric SUVs, the Solterra and impending Trailseeker, have so far not been selected for Wilderness application.

The Outback Wilderness editions signed up for NZ stand as pricier turbocharged adjuncts to new formats of normally-aspirated editions, with all moving up the spending scale, to point of the type now going into virgin territory: The $70,000-plus price band.

When full recommended retails apply, the previous Outback line, which largely remains on runout - with special edition Geyser Blue models to jolly up sales - started at $49,990 and peaked out at $69,990.

The new types span from $54,990 to $74,990, the latter buying a flagship Wilderness Apex. The alternate entry Wilderness is $69,990.

These models have the 2.4 turbo, with outputs of 194kW and 382Nm cited. Those are up from the 183kW and 350Nm that came with this engine in the outgoing XT.

The Wilderness further elevates the already rough terrain-ready ride height, from 220mm to 240mm, and adds more rugged trim choices and a special driving mode to set it apart from the standard wagon, which continues in AWD, AWD Premium and AWD Touring, respectively at $54,990, $59,990 and $64,990.

Those maintain the long-serving normally-aspirated 2.5-litre, for which 137kW and 254Nm is now claimed. That represents a drop of 1kW and 9Nm over the outgoing engine. Fuel economy also slightly worsens.