Subaru promises to present its first electric car before the end of the five-year plan
Toyota Motor’s inertia in expanding its battery electric vehicle range is due to its strong bets on hybrid technology and hydrogen fuel cells, but the Japanese auto giant is also trying to improve traction batteries. Toyota-controlled Subaru is showing even greater sluggishness in preparing electric vehicles.
Recall that in January of this year, Subaru promised to completely switch to the production of electric vehicles only by 2035, and as of the end of 2030, models with one or another type of electrification will form no more than 40% of the brand’s product range. For a small Japanese automaker, the traditions of engine building and attachment to a certain type of transmission have long become the basis of the image, so Subaru is in no hurry to rebuild to the new realities.
As Electrek noted, Subaru’s European dealership this week announced its intentions in the first half of the 2020s to bring to the market a mid-size electric crossover, comparable in size to the Subaru Forester. It will be built on a common platform with Toyota. Considering that the Japanese automaker, which owns 8.9% of Subaru’s shares, is delaying the launch of “purebred” electric vehicles on the market, the uncertainty of the schedule for the appearance of related Subaru models is easy to explain. Subaru will tell you more about its plans in this area next year. Given that the announcement was made by the European office of the brand, it can be assumed that the first Subaru electric car will be primarily targeted at the local market.
