Subaru is moving towards an electrified future, and its first foray into a fully electric vehicle will come with a familiar nameplate.
This year, Subaru will pour record investments into research and development for electrification, but the brand isn’t planning an all-new EV, instead planning on adding an electric powertrain to an existing model, allowing the company to capitalize on its already good reputation.
“If there’s already an attractive Subaru model, for example the XV crossover, and if a customer in Beijing wants one but is only allowed to buy an electric vehicle, if there’s no electric version then he can’t buy it,” Subaru CEO Yasuyuki Yoshinaga told explaining the brand’s EV strategy.
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A new plug-in hybrid Subaru model is expected by the next year while a fully electric Subaru is said to arrive in 2021. In the next year, about $1.2 billion will go into developing electrified powertrains.
Subaru does not want to partner with another automaker for its EVs according to its CEO, though it will need to select suppliers for the batteries and electric motors, mentioning Panasonic and Samsung as possibilities.
[Source: Bloomberg]
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