Subaru on Monday confirmed, via its European subsidiary, that it’s readying the launch of a fully electric crossover that will be roughly the same size as its Forester SUV—and that it will be releasing “additional information” about the model in 2021.
For now, Subaru is only confirming the model for Europe, although the SUV is being developed together with Toyota, and the latter company has already suggested the U.S. market as part of the new model’s aim. Additionally, comments made by Subaru’s CEO, Tomomi Nakamura, last month suggest that the project remains on track and is heading to the U.S.
In a (Japanese-language) interview this Reuters last month, discussing the automaker’s sales results, Nakamura said Subaru leadership is concerned about California’s ban on sales of new gasoline and diesel cars by 2035.
Subaru is very dependent on the U.S. market and is aiming for 650,000 U.S. sales next year, up from about 600,000 this year—and a fully electric vehicle might potentially be part of that.
The company is aiming to go all hybrid and EV by the mid-2030s, but may need to accelerate that plan to account for the 2035 California rule.
Subaru electric crossover rendering by TopElectricSUV.com
As depicted by the rendering embedded in this article, GCR friends at TopElectricSUV.com predict the Subaru electric crossover will be similar in execution to the Volkswagen ID.4 and Nissan Ariya, and could sport sharp-edged styling from recent Subaru concept cars.
The crossover will be co-developed with Toyota, which is expected to get its own version. The two automakers announced the joint effort in June 2019, then broadened the partnership to include autonomous-driving tech, as well as second-generation versions of the Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86 sports cars—products of a previous collaboration between the two automakers.
Green Car Reports has again reached out to Subaru of America for clarification.
So far, Subaru’s only plug-in vehicle for the United States is the Crosstrek Hybrid, which uses a Toyota-derived hybrid system. It gets an EPA-rated 35 mpg combined in hybrid mode and 90 MPGe combined in electric mode, with 17 miles of electric range.
Subaru announced earlier this month that the 2021 Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid gets some improvements to ride and handling, along with a few feature and trim changes, but its efficiency numbers carry over.
—
This piece was originally published on December 2, but updated on December 14 to reflect the EV’s confirmation by Subaru Europe.
View originat article at: “”https://www.greencarreports.com//news/1130486_subaru-electric-crossover-how-it-could-take-form-in-2021
