Subaru Turns to Its Friends for Electrification Help
If you’re a modern-day automaker without an electrification strategy, you’re in trouble. Not only will you face the global stigma of being truly evil, you might also miss out on the possibility of future sales. Sure, electric vehicles only account for about 1 percent of total domestic deliveries right now, but it’s a growth market, spurred on by political pressure and regulatory action. Some regions, like California, have plug-ins taking up as much as 5 percent of annual car sales.
Subaru needs help, as it doesn’t sell a single electrified vehicle. The brand discontinued the Crosstrek Hybrid, and its only battery-driven plug-in, the long-defunct Stella EV, was sold only in Japan and proved about as popular as VD. While Subaru can certainly build a good car, it hasn’t had the best luck with electric vehicles.
It’s now calling on its “friends” for backup.
Despite having an in-house electrification project, Subaru’s chief technical officer Takeshi Tachimori told Automotive News the brand will lean heavily on Toyota to produce its upcoming plug-in hybrid and pure EV. “For our plug-in hybrid to be introduced this year, we have used Toyota’s technologies as much as possible,” Tachimori explained.
Most of that tech will be sourced from the Prius Prime, however, the final product will not be a rebadged Toyota. Subaru’s hybrid will use a longitudinal powertrain, instead of a transverse one, but it will share parts. The company’s tight R&D budget requires the manufacturer to expend the majority of its resources perfecting its current boxer engine and assorted safety systems.
“We can’t engage in a large-scale [EV] development,” Tachimori said.
Subaru wants a totally electric vehicle by 2021. That program also hinges on Toyota’s support, as Subaru has decided to join its EV Common Architecture Spirit Co. — which includes both Mazda and Denso. The group’s aim is to jointly develop basic structural technologies for electric cars. Subaru, along with Suzuki, Hino, and Daihatsu, are latecomers to the program but Tachimori feels it’s a good way to ensure his company doesn’t fall behind in its development efforts.
“If there is a basic technological foundation, that would help carmakers not waste resources,” he said.
However, Subaru doesn’t expect electrified vehicles to become its best-selling models. Tachimori claims the new plug-in hybrid will only be sold in states with stringent zero-emission vehicle regulations. Meanwhile, it’ll continue development on the BEV as it looks to its biggest competitors for assistance. But while the brand appears to recognize electric vehicles as important, Subaru also seems to be taking a cautious approach.
“Every carmaker has a sense of urgency,” Tachimori said. “We don’t know how battery technology will evolve or how we should handle it or what would be the best way to use it as an energy source. Carmakers are still trying to figure out what a basic EV structure will look like.”
[Images: Subaru]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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By 07 February, Subaru of America is to call me back with an answer as to whether they will cover or contribute to the head gasket repair needed on my 2004 Forester 2.5X. It currently has 112,874 miles which, of course, is out of warranty. However, the local Subaru dealer replaced these head gaskets in 2011 at 54,581 miles under warranty. This Forester replaced my 1997 Legacy 5spd wagon that I drove 67k flawless miles until 2004. The dealer quoted $2,800 for the repair, including timing belt and water pump. Their decision will determine whether I ever own another Subaru. Am I unreasonable to expect a head gasket to last longer than 55k miles?
Here on TTAC, everyone has opinions on vehicles they've never driven let alone owned, and opinions are delivered as if they were facts from on high. Me, I waste dealers' time trying out cars, and my opinion, for what it's not worth, is that cars are not that great to drive these days. Crossovers bore the living sh!t out of me, including my brother's CX-5, and give me a depressed feeling. Zero joie-de-vivre. No enthusiasm. Then there's pickup trucks, which I laughed at 50 years ago and see no reason to like today, ponderous ill-handling brutes. If I had any interest in trucks I'd go to a truck site, but here I get fed trucks day in day out on a site nominally about cars. My years with leaf sprung live axles ended in 1964, and I have no wish to return to antiquity. This site is called The Truth About Cars and is owned by the Toronto Star newspaper Corporation Torstar through Verticalscope which sold out to it several years ago. Obviously TTAC has changed through the years to the mild milquetoast format of today. Stevenson tried to get something going but was overwhelmed; Healey has gone to ground showing no evidence of leadership at all. Under him, there has been no enunciation at all of what TTAC stands for. Time to wake up There have been articles by enthusiastic readers which I commend, such as Rare Rides, but the general tenor is slothful and yet opiniated on social matters like what life's like beyond the blinkered borders of North America. Beyond Baruth and his Life Journey to Somewhere or other, the remaining staff have no technical or writing chops that can be called definitive. The fiasco that went on for months where we were informed that Mazda's new SkyActiv-X engine was sparkless was indicative of the uninformed technical side of the "truth" about cars. And what's more, the author repeating the fallacy over and over again seemed to bask in his ignorance. After all, are there any consequences for getting it wrong? Apparently not. Having run some decent sized engineering departments in my time, I'd have made some changes if I'd been running the place. General mediocrity and being afraid to stick one's head up above the gunwales is the signature of just getting by. If you don't demand excellence, and exhibit the same by showing the way, then this is what you get. Comfiness and little else. I wouldn't waste my time writing all this, if I didn't hope that there was a chance this place would buck up a bit. But it's rapidly approaching the extinction point for me, and judging by others' comments, I'm not alone in thinking this way. It's surely time to move beyond walking on the spot, which is worn out from overuse and repetition.