Japanese Automobile Company Unveils All-Electric Car

Japan’s automobile company Subaru Corp on Thursday gave the first sneak peak of its all-electric vehicle (EV), the Solterra, which is coming from a two-year joint development project with its biggest shareholder, Toyota Motor Corp.

The sports utility vehicle (SUV) launch comes amid the hurling demand for EVs as countries around the world toughen environmental regulation to decrease carbon emissions. Toyota last month announced its version of a battery electric vehicle (BEV), the bZ4X.

Shifting from the Internal combustion engines poses a difficulty for smaller carmakers, such as Subaru, that are less able to finance the costly development of EVs, as well as being an opportunity for top-tier automakers, such as Toyota, to draw smaller competitors closer.

“The EV market is not mature yet, so we will respond to it by deepening our cooperation with Toyota.” Subaru CEO Tomomi Nakamura said during a launch event.

Nakamura also said, the Solterra would be manufactured by Toyota in Japan and Subaru may move production to its main market, the United States, when it had substantial sales volume.

Toyota, a pioneer of hybrid electric cars but a latecomer to the full EV market, intends to have a line-up of 15 BEV models by 2025. It is also disbursing $13.5 billion over the next 10 years to increase auto battery production capacity. Vehicle sales at Subaru are less than a tenth of those at Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker by production volume.

The front-wheel drive Solterra has a cruising range of 530 km (329 miles), while the all-wheel drive version can drive 460 km on a single charge, Subaru said in a press release.

Toyota owns a fifth of Subaru and has a 5% stake in Mazda Motor Corp which plans to introduce 13 electrified vehicles by 2025, including hybrids and BEVs that will integrate the Toyota technology.

Source

Reuters

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