Photo: Subaru
Subaru’s first electric vehicle is actually Toyota’s second EV (remember the RAV4 EV?) with some tweaks. It is even produced by Toyota, something that Subaru wants to change by the middle of the decade. That’s when Subaru is planning to make its first EVs. By 2027, it will have its first dedicated factory for electric cars.
The company announced that in its 2021 fiscal year earnings on May 12. The strategy shift happened due to the North American market. According to Tomomi Nakamura, U.S. dealers would not even mention electric vehicles two or three years ago. Subaru's CEO stated that demand for EVs has increased so much that these same dealers now want Subaru to give them what to sell.
Considering the U.S. is among Subaru’s most important markets – if it is not the main one – the company cannot afford to stay out of this trend. This is why it will invest 250 billion yen ($1.95 billion at the current exchange rate) until 2027 to prepare itself for the EV shift.
That’s the year in which Subaru will have its first dedicated plant for electric cars in the same terrain where it has its Oizumi plant. Automotive News reports that this factory currently makes engines and transmissions, precisely the components that will no longer be necessary when EVs replace combustion-engined vehicles for good.
The change will begin by 2025. That’s when Subaru expects to be making its first dedicated EVs without any external aid. To achieve that, the Japanese carmaker will have mixed production lines making both cars with electric motors and ICEs.
Subaru thinks most of these electric vehicles will be for foreign markets. That gives us a cultural background on why Japanese companies are waiting for solid-state batteries to sell electric cars. Japanese customers are not that much into electric vehicles, which work better for those that can recharge them at home.
Japan has a known housing problem that affects even vehicle purchases: you can only buy a car if you prove that you have somewhere to park it – something called “shako shomei sho” (garage certificate). It does not matter if you own or lease the spot as long as you don’t count on the street to park your vehicle. EVs will only catch on around there when fast charging is as easy and convenient as filling a fuel tank.
Considering the U.S. is among Subaru’s most important markets – if it is not the main one – the company cannot afford to stay out of this trend. This is why it will invest 250 billion yen ($1.95 billion at the current exchange rate) until 2027 to prepare itself for the EV shift.
That’s the year in which Subaru will have its first dedicated plant for electric cars in the same terrain where it has its Oizumi plant. Automotive News reports that this factory currently makes engines and transmissions, precisely the components that will no longer be necessary when EVs replace combustion-engined vehicles for good.
The change will begin by 2025. That’s when Subaru expects to be making its first dedicated EVs without any external aid. To achieve that, the Japanese carmaker will have mixed production lines making both cars with electric motors and ICEs.
Subaru thinks most of these electric vehicles will be for foreign markets. That gives us a cultural background on why Japanese companies are waiting for solid-state batteries to sell electric cars. Japanese customers are not that much into electric vehicles, which work better for those that can recharge them at home.
Japan has a known housing problem that affects even vehicle purchases: you can only buy a car if you prove that you have somewhere to park it – something called “shako shomei sho” (garage certificate). It does not matter if you own or lease the spot as long as you don’t count on the street to park your vehicle. EVs will only catch on around there when fast charging is as easy and convenient as filling a fuel tank.
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