Toyota passes on Prius technology
09.02.2018
B oxermotor and permanent all-wheel drive. This has been the successful basic recipe for almost every Subaru model for years. Only the two-seater BRZ sports car, which Subaru developed and also builds in cooperation with Toyota, comes to customers with rear-wheel drive. Toyota holds approximately 16.5 percent of the company shares in Subaru Corporation. Subaru is now making use of this interlocking when electrifying its model range.
The brand plans to present its first plug-in hybrid in the USA this year. The drive and battery technology of the Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid is used. The Toyota has an 8.8 kWh lithium-ion battery.
Developing your own would be too expensive
Takeshi Tachimori, Head of Technical Development at Subaru, has collaborated with Industry newspaper Automotive News confirms: “We cannot lead our own development (of hybrid technology, editor's note). That is why we are using as much Toyota technology as possible for the plug-in hybrid ”.
It has not yet been revealed whether Subaru will stick to the boxer engine with the brand's first part-time electric vehicle. However, it was confirmed that a longitudinally installed internal combustion engine will continue to be used and not a transverse engine as in the Prius.
In the USA, Subaru already has a hybrid version of the predecessor of the current XV, which is sold there under the name Crosstrek offered. It is quite possible that plug-in technology will also be introduced on the XV /Crosstrek. The seven-seat SUV model Ascent, which Subaru presented at the Los Angeles Auto Show at the end of 2017, would also be a candidate for plug-in technology.
Important US market
Subaru
The Subaru Ascent
With the locally emission-free model on electrically driven routes, Subaru is responding to the registration requirements of some US states. In contrast toIn Germany, where the brand ekes out a niche existence with 7,440 new registrations in 2017, Subaru is one of the big players with over half a million new cars sold in 2017. Even more Subaru were sold there than models from the Volkswagen Group with all its brands represented in the USA.
The German Subaru importer has not yet heard of any plans to introduce electrified models. Falling demand for compression-ignition engines ensures that the once elaborately developed boxer diesel is gradually being phased out. The freshly launched Impreza and XV models are no longer available in the diesel version and the 150 hp two-liter four-cylinder is also currently being phased out in the large estate car Outback.
