The Japanese brand Subaru sells about 30,000 vehicles annually in Europe, a reduced number when we take into account that in the US, the brand markets 700,000 units.
Despite the low sales figures in Europe, David Dello Stritto, director of Subaru Europe, made it clear in an interview with “Autocar” that “Subaru Corporation has no intention of leaving the European market.” As part of this strategy, electric vehicles will play a central role in that future.
“We have no other choice”, explains Dello Stritto. “We need to transition to a full range of all-electric vehicles in Europe as quickly as possible. That is our vision.”
Subaru aims to sell about 1.2 million vehicles worldwide by 2030, compared to the 976,000 sold last year, about half of which will be electric vehicles.
Instead of redefining the brand, Subaru wants to use electrification to strengthen its strengths, such as all-wheel drive. An example of this is the Solterra, a model developed in collaboration with Toyota, which offers an all-wheel drive version and two electric motors.
The new Outback, also based on Toyota’s platform, incorporates significantly more Subaru technology and is manufactured in-house. Another new electric model, the Uncharted, recently revealed, is a more rugged variant of the Toyota C-HR+.
“We are working on more sporty models, and we hope that electrification will allow us to do that.” In this regard, Dello Stritto did not hide that a new WRX STI with purely electric traction could arrive in the near future.
