Subaru is about to get serious on its EV rollout, with the brand to launch “several” new all-electric vehicles by 2025.
Currently Subaru is partly responsible for just one EV, the Solterra, which was developed alongside the Toyota bZ4X, and which will be launching in Australia around the middle of this year.
But that model is just the start of Subaru’s EV ambitions, with the brand promising that a host of new all-electric vehicles are just around the corner, and they will start to roll out globally from 2025.
That’s the news out of the USA, where the brand says hybrids and EVs – mostly developed in conjunction with Toyota – will drive Subaru’s new-product offensive.
“Our main electrification strategy centres on strong hybrids and electric vehicles and introducing such models in the USA by 2025,” Tomoaki Emori, Subaru’s senior vice president of the corporate planning division, told media at a recent earnings announcement.
“When we look at the market situation, we will need to offer several models in our EV line-up. We have shifted our weight toward that in our development.”
Subaru has come under fire for dragging its heels on true electrification, with complaints its early hybrid powertrains don’t deliver the fuel savings of rival systems.
But it seems that strategy is about to shift, with Subaru to lean more heavily into its partnership with Toyota (the two companies already work together on the 86 and BRZ, as well as the bZ4X and the Solterra), with the company executive saying “cooperation with Toyota is essential”.
The Solterra will at last arrive in Australia around June. Exact local details are still to be confirmed but, in Japan, the Solterra punches out 160kW of power in all-wheel-drive form and sports a driving range of up to 530km.
Keyword: Solterra is just the start! Subaru is about to get serious about electric cars as it seeks to nab sales from Tesla, MG, Hyundai and more