Subaru Caves, Starts Development On EV Model

2015 Subaru Impreza Sport Hybrid (Credit: © Subaru)

It had to happen sooner or later. Japanese media is reporting that Subaru will join the US electric vehicle market in 2021 with a new crossover model. So far, the automaker isn’t confirming or denying the reports.

Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, says the EV will be built on the future Forester or Outback platforms. Considering both are pretty obvious candidates for that kind of undertaking, that’s likely just a lucky guess.

Earlier in 2016, the Subaru Global Architecture platform was unveiled. Besides being scalable, it can accommodate traditional, hybrid and pure EV setups. So really it’s not a surprise that Subaru is going to actually do something fully-electric.

The next-generation Subaru Forester and Outback are slated to launch for the 2020 model year. That would give engineers a little bit of time to work out the kinks for a new EV.

Even though Subaru has never sold an EV in the United States, this isn’t uncharted territory for the company. In Japan, it used to make the Stella EV minicar, but that project was wound down years ago. Obviously, this mysterious crossover will be pretty different, and could be one of the first mass-produced off-road-worthy electric vehicle, which would be a big deal.