Subaru Corp. announced Thursday that it aims to invest roughly JPY250 billion ($1.9 billion) on electric-vehicle battery capacity over the next five years and that it will add an EV production line to its main facility in Gunma prefecture in Japan, which will begin producing cars in 2027.
According to the Nikkei, the new line will require an investment of roughly JPY100 billion.
Japanese automakers have lagged behind worldwide peers in developing electric vehicles, and the country’s EV adoption rate is under 1%. Honda Motor Co. is proposing to spend JPY5 trillion over the next decade to produce greener cars, and Toyota Motor Corp. is investing $624 million in India to make electric vehicle components.
Subaru, which sells over 70% of its vehicles in the United States, plans to have 40% of its global vehicle sales be electric by 2030.
Subaru also released full-year results on Thursday, forecasting JPY200 billion in operating profits for the current fiscal year, which ends in March 2023, slightly higher than analyst projections of JPY196 billion.
The carmaker has begun taking orders for its Solterra vehicle, its first all-electric SUV created in collaboration with Toyota. Subaru CEO Tomomi Nakamura stated last year that the business intends to “exploit the collaboration to build technology and know-how.”
Subaru shares rose as high as 9.6 percent intraday, the most in 15 months.
