Photo: Subaru / edited
Atsushi Osaki, current executive vice prez and soon-to-be chief executive officer at Subaru, has confirmed three new all-electric sport utility vehicles by the end of 2026. Together with the Solterra, which is nothing more than a Toyota bZ4X with a different name, Subaru intends to sell 200,000 battery-electric vehicles on a yearly basis.
Previously in charge of quality assurance, Atsushi Osaki further confirmed that in-house production of electric vehicles will start in 2025 at the Yajima plant in Japan. The Tokyo-born executive also told shareholders that a dedicated electric vehicle production line will be set up at the Oizumi plant in 2027. All in all, total production capacity is projected at 400,000 automobiles per year.
Batteries will be procured through Subaru's very solid alliance with Toyota Motor Corporation. The larger automaker is currently working on solid-state batteries for BEVs, although it's too early to tell if Subaru's upcoming electric SUVs will leverage this technology.
Scheduled to switch to his new role as chief executive officer in June 2023, the veteran executive assured investors that all three new models would be detailed at another time. The big question is, how many of those three are Toyota-designed electric vehicles? Even more importantly, how dependent is Subaru on Toyota for electric vehicle technology? As of May 2023, we don't really know and can't make an educated guess either.
Whatever the zero-emission future may hold for Subaru, two particularities need to be addressed. Remember the abysmally bad rollout of the bZ4X and Solterra? Quite a few of them had to be recalled over improperly tightened hub bolts. Worse still, bZ4X owners were further presented with the choice of a full buyback.
In addition to quality – which is funny given Atsushi's previous role as chief quality officer – Subaru also needs to make sure that its upcoming three electric SUVs are competitive. The bZ4X and – by extension – the Solterra leave much to be desired against their segment rivals.
From the generic styling to the poor driving range and frustrating infotainment system, there's a lot that needs to be addressed if Subaru wants to sell 200,000 electric vehicles globally per year. The United States of America remains the automaker's biggest market, with Japan coming on a distant second. Japanese customers have different needs from their American counterparts, but the Japanese company has to understand that catering to the US market will be more profitable in the long run.
That's not saying to ignore the JDM completely, quite the contrary. Subaru, like every other Japanese automaker, is full of people in leading positions who are deplorably out of touch with what customers from outside Japan want from a brand-new car. Innovative in many respects – including the automaker's pioneering just-in-time production system – Toyota still is conservative in lots of ways.
The same applies to Subaru, a much smaller automaker with a much smaller research & development budget. That said, both of them have to get out of their comfort zones in order to prevail in the increasingly competitive electric vehicle space.
Batteries will be procured through Subaru's very solid alliance with Toyota Motor Corporation. The larger automaker is currently working on solid-state batteries for BEVs, although it's too early to tell if Subaru's upcoming electric SUVs will leverage this technology.
Scheduled to switch to his new role as chief executive officer in June 2023, the veteran executive assured investors that all three new models would be detailed at another time. The big question is, how many of those three are Toyota-designed electric vehicles? Even more importantly, how dependent is Subaru on Toyota for electric vehicle technology? As of May 2023, we don't really know and can't make an educated guess either.
Whatever the zero-emission future may hold for Subaru, two particularities need to be addressed. Remember the abysmally bad rollout of the bZ4X and Solterra? Quite a few of them had to be recalled over improperly tightened hub bolts. Worse still, bZ4X owners were further presented with the choice of a full buyback.
In addition to quality – which is funny given Atsushi's previous role as chief quality officer – Subaru also needs to make sure that its upcoming three electric SUVs are competitive. The bZ4X and – by extension – the Solterra leave much to be desired against their segment rivals.
From the generic styling to the poor driving range and frustrating infotainment system, there's a lot that needs to be addressed if Subaru wants to sell 200,000 electric vehicles globally per year. The United States of America remains the automaker's biggest market, with Japan coming on a distant second. Japanese customers have different needs from their American counterparts, but the Japanese company has to understand that catering to the US market will be more profitable in the long run.
That's not saying to ignore the JDM completely, quite the contrary. Subaru, like every other Japanese automaker, is full of people in leading positions who are deplorably out of touch with what customers from outside Japan want from a brand-new car. Innovative in many respects – including the automaker's pioneering just-in-time production system – Toyota still is conservative in lots of ways.
The same applies to Subaru, a much smaller automaker with a much smaller research & development budget. That said, both of them have to get out of their comfort zones in order to prevail in the increasingly competitive electric vehicle space.
Google News