Subaru Corp plans to invest around ¥250bn ($1.9bn or roughly R30.8bn) on electric-vehicle battery capacity over the next five years and will add an EV production line to its main factory in Gunma prefecture in Japan that should begin producing cars from 2027, the automaker said on Thursday.
The new line will involve an investment of around ¥100bn, the Nikkei reported earlier.
Japanese automakers have lagged behind global peers in rolling out electric cars and the country’s EV penetration rate is barely 1%. Now a catch up game of sorts is under way with Honda Motor Co planning to spend ¥5-trillion (roughly R625.1bn) over the next decade to make cleaner cars and Toyota Motor Corp investing $624m (roughly R10.1bn) to make electric vehicle components in India.
Subaru, which makes almost 70% of its sales in the US, aims to have 40% of new global car sales be electric by 2030.
Subaru also reported full-year results on Thursday and forecast operating income for the current fiscal year that will end in March 2023 of ¥200bn (roughly R25bn), slightly better than analyst estimates of ¥196bn (roughly R24.5bn).
The automaker has started receiving orders for its Solterra model, its first all-electric SUV developed with Toyota. Subaru CEO Tomomi Nakamura said last year that the company plans to “use the alliance to build up technology and know-how”.
Subaru shares jumped as much as 9.6%, their biggest intraday gain in 15 months.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
Subaru to Spend $1.9bn on battery capacity and a new EV line
Image: : yakub88 / 123rf
Subaru Corp plans to invest around ¥250bn ($1.9bn or roughly R30.8bn) on electric-vehicle battery capacity over the next five years and will add an EV production line to its main factory in Gunma prefecture in Japan that should begin producing cars from 2027, the automaker said on Thursday.
The new line will involve an investment of around ¥100bn, the Nikkei reported earlier.
Japanese automakers have lagged behind global peers in rolling out electric cars and the country’s EV penetration rate is barely 1%. Now a catch up game of sorts is under way with Honda Motor Co planning to spend ¥5-trillion (roughly R625.1bn) over the next decade to make cleaner cars and Toyota Motor Corp investing $624m (roughly R10.1bn) to make electric vehicle components in India.
Subaru, which makes almost 70% of its sales in the US, aims to have 40% of new global car sales be electric by 2030.
Subaru also reported full-year results on Thursday and forecast operating income for the current fiscal year that will end in March 2023 of ¥200bn (roughly R25bn), slightly better than analyst estimates of ¥196bn (roughly R24.5bn).
The automaker has started receiving orders for its Solterra model, its first all-electric SUV developed with Toyota. Subaru CEO Tomomi Nakamura said last year that the company plans to “use the alliance to build up technology and know-how”.
Subaru shares jumped as much as 9.6%, their biggest intraday gain in 15 months.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
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