Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1467738
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 MAY 2022 MOTORING Subaru will add first electric car production line by 2027 in Japan ELECTRIC vehicle laggard Subaru will step up its pace in the battery-car race by adding an in-house EV assembly plant in Japan from about 2027. THE move is part of a multibil- lion-dollar investment in elec- trification over the next five years. Subaru's outlay shows the all- wheel drive specialist is finally turning its focus to full-elec- tric vehicles after introducing its first serious contender, the Solterra crossover EV, only this year. Unlike the Solterra, the EVs produced in the latter half of this decade will be manufac- tured directly by Subaru. The Solterra, which shares a Toyota-developed EV platform with the Toyota bZ4X, is made at Toyota's Motomachi assem- bly plant on the same line as the sibling nameplate. Subaru CEO Tomomi Na- kamura outlined the plans on Thursday while announcing fiscal year earnings. Subaru will begin making its own EVs in mixed production with internal combustion vehi- cles at its Yajima plant in Japan in the mid-2020s. From about 2027, Subaru will build a dedi- cated EV factory on the site of its Oizumi plant, which now makes engines and transmis- sion. The EVs made there will be exported globally to markets including the U.S., Nakamura said. Subaru is still contem- plating what kind of segment or models the upcoming EVs will be, he added. Nakamura also declined to offer a production capacity figure for the new EV produc- tion facility but said it will start off small with room to expand over time. Nakamura said the market for EVs has radically changed in just the last year. Even U.S. dealers are starting to clamor for battery electric cars, espe- cially after experiencing the upcoming Solterra. "Two or three years ago, U.S. retailers were not asking about EVs at all," Nakamura said. "But in this last year, it's sud- denly increased." Around mid-decade, Subaru will also introduce next-gener- ation hybrid models based on gasoline-electric powertrains provided by Toyota, which owns a 20 percent stake in Sub- aru. Subaru will brand its hybrid offerings e-Boxers, in a nod to its horizontally opposed en- gines. Subaru said it will invest 250 billion yen ($2.05 billion) over the next five year in the hybrid and EVs initiatives. Subaru wants at least 40 percent of its global sales to come from hy- brids and pure EVs by 2030. And in the early 2030, Subaru plans to electrify all new vehi- cles sold worldwide. The Solterra, which went on sale May 12 in Japan, will also be sold in the U.S., Canada, Europe and China. It is the badge-sharing stablemate of the bZ4X and a spitting image of the Toyota, from the over- sized wheel cladding and bev- eled back fender to the funky wraparound taillight motif. Earnings Nakamura said that operating profit fell 12 percent to 90.5 billion yen ($742.4 million) in the fiscal year ended March 31. Global sales slid 15 percent to 734,000 vehicles as the com- pany felt the pinch of pandem- ic-related output interruptions and the worldwide semicon- ductor shortage, the company said in a statement. Sales in the U.S., Subaru's big- gest and most important mar- ket, fell 17 percent to 506,000 units in the 12 months, as pro- duction stoppages prevented Subaru from supplying hot de- mand. Nakamura said U.S. deal- er inventories have shrunk to historical lows of only three or four days. "We have never had an expe- rience like this," he said. Meanwhile, surging raw ma- terial and logistics costs fur- ther undercut profits over the period. Looking ahead, however, Subaru predicts a big bounce back in the current fiscal year through March 31, 2023. The automaker sees global sales rebounding 28 percent to 940,000 units. Operating profit is forecast to more than double to 200.0 bil- lion yen ($1.64 billion), thanks largely to recovering volume and the tailwind of beneficial foreign exchange rates. Subaru will start building EVs from mid-decade as it races to catch up in the push to emission- free cars M4