subaru stella plug in hybrid 009

subaru stella plug in hybrid 009

In today’s world it doesn’t seem a question of if a car company will enter into the electric vehicle (EV) market, but more of a question of when and how. Subaru is one of the companies joining the market with plans to begin selling EVs overseas by 2013. The announcement came from Subaru’s parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI).

To be fair, Subaru currently sells an electric version of its compact Stella minivan to the commercial sector (read our report here); so it isn’t like they have never thought about the EV market. However, according to our partners over at AllCarsElectric.com, in an interview with Nikkei newspaper FHI President, Ikuo Mori, revealed that by working closely with the company’s top shareholder they have decided to start moving toward more environmentally friendly cars. The time frame—as soon as possible. The top partner—Toyota.

Bottom line—Subaru is supposed to launch a hybrid vehicle in 2012 with the possibility of a plug-in hybrid model to come after. Despite the partnership with Toyota, FHI is mulling over the possibility of developing their own electric drive motor for both hybrid and electric-only models. The batteries are to be outsourced from another vendor.

Be sure to plug-in to AllCarsElectric.com for the full details.