Subaru announced plans today to spend 250 billion yen (USD$2.05 billion) over the next five years to accelerate their shift to electrification. Although it may come too late as the company only plans to build their first dedicated electric vehicle (EV) factory around 2027.
The plans were announced by CEO Tomomi Nakamura on Thursday while discussing the automaker’s earnings report.
According to Nakamura, Subaru will start producing EVs alongside their internal combustion engine production lines at its Yajima plant in Japan in the mid-2020s.
Subaru then plans to create a dedicated EV factory on the site of its Oizumi facility, which now produces internal combustion engines and transmissions, starting in 2027.
Once up and running, the facility will produce an undisclosed number of EVs, although Nakamura said it will be small but have the capacity to grow over time.
Subaru has not decided what types of EVs they will make at the facility, but confirmed they will be exported to other markets, including North America, reports Automotive News.
The Japanese automaker only introduced their first electric vehicle (EV) this year in the form of the Solterra crossover, but it wasn’t built by Subaru. Instead the company partnered with Toyota, who built it at their Motomachi assembly plant, which also assembles the Toyota bZ4X on the same platform.
