For carmakers around the world, increasingly strict global CO2 emissions standards seem to be pointing in one direction: the electric engine.
According to DigitalTrends.com, Subaru is the latest auto manufacturer to consider further development of an electric car model to introduce in the U.S. before emissions regulations are tightened again in 2018, according to The Japan News. Currently, American car purchases account for about half of Subaru’s global sales.
“Electric vehicles are [effective] products to help cope with these new regulations,” Yasuyuki Yoshinaga, president of Subaru parent Fuji Heavy Industries, told The Japan News. Subaru will likely make a decision by the end of the year.
While Subaru has previously experimented with electric cars in the last five years, this is the first time the automaker will attempt to market an electric car to the public, digitaltrends.com reported. Currently, Subaru offers a hybrid vehicle, the XV Crosstrek Hybrid, which pairs a 13.4-horsepower electric motor to the standard Crosstrek’s 2.0-liter boxer-four and continuously-variable transmission (CVT).
What would an all-electric car mean for Subaru?
It remains to be seen if Subaru will introduce an all-electric car in the near future, but it’s clear that the carmaker is thinking green.