The news arrived quietly enough. Subaru isn’t killing its electric future completely. It just needs more time. Way more time.
The automaker has delayed the launch of battery-electric vehicles it plans to build in-house. The CEO blames the United States. Specifically the slow pace at which American buyers are adopting EVs. It’s a tough sell right now.
So Subaru is stepping back. They aren’t abandoning the grid entirely. The brand still has three EVs on sale today. The Solterra. The Trailseeker. The Uncharted. These came from partnerships with Toyota while Subaru cooked up its own designs behind closed doors.
Now that internal development plan is frozen.
When? No one knows. Subaru never gave a specific date for their proprietary EVs anyway. But Atsushi Osaki the CEO said the weak U.S. market was forcing a rethink. He called it a re-evaluation of strategy.
“The timing of our BEV market introduction is being pushed back.”
Osaki didn’t mince words. He admitted they are looking at which models even make it to the floor. They will keep working on core BEV components. That’s it. Everything else gets fewer resources. A lot fewer.
The cost? A staggering ¥57.8 billion in write-downs. Roughly $363 million dollars. Ouch.
What do we make of this? It feels like a retreat. The federal tax incentives in the U.S. have dried up or shifted. Sales tanked. Buyers keep going back to combustion engines. They prefer gas. It’s inconvenient to change that.
Subaru isn’t alone. Ford paused. GM paused. Now Subaru pauses too.
Osaki said they will watch market conditions closely. Maybe next year? Maybe next decade. He shrugged in quotes. It is too early to pick a timeline.
“It is still too early to say.”
A reasonable statement. Or an excuse? Hard to tell.
One thing remains certain. The three existing EVs are still there. For now. They stand as lonely markers in a shifting landscape.
Does Subaru plan to wait out the EV winter? Probably. Until the heat gets bearable.
