{"id":22166,"date":"2022-05-13T12:08:32","date_gmt":"2022-05-13T16:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=22166"},"modified":"2022-05-13T12:08:32","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T16:08:32","slug":"subaru-to-build-ev-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=22166","title":{"rendered":"Subaru to build its first electric vehicle factory"},"content":{"rendered":"

TOKYO \u2014 Subaru<\/a> Corp aims to build a dedicated electric vehicle<\/a> (EV) factory in Japan<\/a> in the late 2020s, it said on Thursday, as part of a $1.9 billion ramp-up to respond to surging demand for battery<\/a> cars in its main North American market.<\/p>\n

Subaru has long had a strong presence in the United States and on Thursday warned that its U.S. dealers<\/a> only have a record low stockpile of around 5,000 vehicles left, reflecting the squeeze of a supply-chain crunch.<\/p>\n

It plans to launch a mixed-production line of gasoline and electric vehicles around 2025 before opening an EV-only production line in the new factory after 2027, it said. The move would be a first for Subaru. Other Japanese automakers have yet to formally announce plans to build a dedicated EV factory.<\/p>\n

Japan’s automakers are accelerating their EV production in an attempt to recover ground lost to Tesla<\/a> Inc, now the leader in the fastest growing segment of the auto industry.<\/p>\n

“The market for EVs has been changing very rapidly over the past year,” said Subaru CEO Tomomi Nakamura.<\/p>\n

It plans to invest 250 billion yen ($1.93 billion) over the next five years to bolster electrification.<\/p>\n

The vehicles produced in the new factory would be exported overseas, Nakamura said, declining to reveal specifics about production capability and whether it would make Toyota Motor Corp<\/a> cars.<\/p>\n

The announcement came on the same day that Subaru began accepting orders for its first mass-produced EV, the Solterra<\/a>, developed jointly with Toyota<\/a> in Japan. Subaru, however, outsourced the car’s production to Toyota, which has also just rolled out its first battery electric car<\/a>, the bZ4X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Separately, Subaru reported a 12% drop in full-year operating profit to 90.45 billion yen ($701 million). For the current financial year that began in April, it forecast operating profit of 200 billion yen, more than double the year just ended.<\/p>\n

($1 = 129.0300 yen)<\/p>\n

(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by David Dolan and Edmund Klamann)<\/em><\/p>\n

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