Subaru plans to start a mixed production line of gasoline and electric vehicles around 2025, before opening an EV-only production line at the new factory after 2027.
Subaru Corp. aims to build a dedicated electric vehicle (EV) factory in Japan by the end of 2020, it said Thursday as part of a $1.9 billion ramp-up to respond to growing demand for battery cars in its main North American market. as said.
Subaru, known for its Outback crossovers, has long had a strong presence in the United States and warned on Thursday that its US dealers only have a record low stock of 5,000 vehicles left, due to supply-chain constraints. Indicates squeeze.
It plans to start a mixed production line of gasoline and electric vehicles around 2025, before opening an EV-only production line at the new factory after 2027. This will be the first step for Subaru. Other Japanese automakers have yet to formally announce plans to build a dedicated EV factory.
Japan’s automakers are ramping up their EV production to recapture lost ground from Tesla Inc., which is now a leader in the auto industry’s fastest-growing segment.
“The EVs market has been changing very rapidly over the past year,” said Subaru CEO Tomomi Nakamura.
It plans to invest 250 billion yen ($1.93 billion) over the next five years to promote electrification.
Nakamura said the vehicles produced at the new factory would be exported overseas, refusing to reveal details about production capacity and whether it would make Toyota Motor Corp cars.
The announcement came on the same day that Subaru began accepting orders for its first mass-produced EV, the Soltera, jointly developed with Toyota in Japan. However, Subaru outsourced production of the car to Toyota, which has also just launched its first battery electric car.
Separately, Subaru reported a 12% drop in full-year operating profit to 90.45 billion yen ($701 million). For the current fiscal year beginning in April, it forecast operating profit of 200 billion yen, more than double the year that just ended.
($1 = 129.0300 yen)
(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by David Dolan and Edmund Kleiman)
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