Power pedal pressed further
Subaru wants to accelerate the transition to a more electric offering. It is therefore sharpening its goals for the rest of this decade. More electric models are coming and the target sales share of EVs is going up.
Subaru currently has one electric model, the Solterra. By the end of 2026, three must have been added, the Japanese announced last spring. Now we look a little further into the future. Subaru announces that four more electric models will be added to the line-up by the end of 2028. In more than five years, Subaru should therefore have eight different fully electric models in the showroom. What to expect remains a mystery. Part of it probably comes from Toyota, although Subaru also says it will come up with some ‘more own electric models’. The EVs (including the Solterra) that will be in the showroom at the end of 2026 are all SUVs anyway.
Only electric and hybrid in 2030
Subaru is not only expanding the planned range, but also sharpening sales targets. Previously, the goal was that by 2030 fully electric and hybrid cars would account for 40 percent of sales. Now Subaru is aiming for only fully electric cars to account for half of sales in that year. That would be about 600,000 cars on an annual basis. The rest of the numbers then come from hybrids. Where in the earlier goals 60 percent of sales in 2030 would come from models without electrification, in the new plans they are no longer even there in 2030. A significant change of course.
From 2025, Subaru wants to build its own fully electric cars in its home country of Japan. On an annual basis, this concerns 200,000 units. Around 2027, another production line will be added with the same production capacity and Subaru will start producing fully electric cars in the United States. Sometime in 2025 or 2026, Subaru will present a new generation of hybrids.
Earlier this week, Subaru announced that it is negotiating with Panasonic for a battery deal. That company would supply the car manufacturer with a new generation of cylindrical lithium-ion batteries. Toyota already has extensive cooperation with Panasonic in this area.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl