[rasterman]

The 3.6 isn't that old, and there aren't that many around. I really don't see Subaru pulling the plug so fast. I think they'll take another swing at a big Subaru powered by the 3.6 before they give up.

Minivan, pickup or perhaps both from a common new platform? (Yeah that would be weird, but appropriate for Subaru)

 

[rasterman]

Given their failures with this that cost them big in recent years I highly doubt Subaru has any reason to offer any of the above. Not to mention their sales increase in just the past couple of years shows that they can easily do very good business without competing with other FAR FAR FAR larger automakers who have FAR LARGER resources to design and build the larger vehicles.

If they ever did offer something in the 7 pass + space I would fully expect it to be in partnership with toyota using toyota running gear and possibly engine to address the size and durability factor that current subaru tech simply can't scale to. Hence why I never see Subaru offering such things at least for the next 5yrs which subaru is in a good spot and clearly selling cars very well.

The tribeca was a failure so many times over that I think the only reason it sold at all was because people wanted a big Subaru.

Everyone hated the name, the styling was viciously panned- hard to beat the Edsel horse collar but they did it! Though big it needed to be bigger, and the MPG was not so hot. With this flock of albatrosses around its neck, they still managed to sell some. I think the demand is there. They have the Exiga for the JDM market but its just too small for the USA, never mind the 3rd row location problem.

I hadn't considered the Toyota angle but that's a great point.