After Honda and Nissan, two other well-known Japanese brands are halting on electric cars: Mazda and Subaru. Adding to this is the fact that Japan’s number one automaker (and also at the top of the global volume rankings), Toyota, has never been a strong supporter of battery electric vehicles, it seems the entire automotive industry of the Land of the Rising Sun is drawing the curtain on plug-in cars.
SUBARU’S U-TURN
In order, the brand known especially among rally enthusiasts initially announced its intention to allocate 8 billion euros for electrifying its lineup, but already last year, given the electric car bubble, it revealed that it had diverted much of that not only towards developing new hybrid models but also to recover others with only internal combustion engines.
Now, CEO Atsushi Osaki, speaking with investors during the presentation of the fiscal year-end financial results, had to admit the decision to indefinitely postpone the launch of electric vehicles to focus even more on the lineup with internal combustion engines and hybrids. An inevitable move since the stall in electric car sales cost Subaru Corp. a write-down of 362 million dollars.
Moreover, Subaru has also decided to delay the debut of a new electric vehicle developed in-house, namely in Oizumi, and intended for the USA (the key market for the Japanese brand) due to the impact of tariffs, which so far have cost the automaker 1.42 billion dollars. In fiscal year 2025, 72% of Subaru’s global sales came from the U.S. segment.
MAZDA’S BRAKE
The same path was taken by Mazda, which has significantly reduced its investments in electric cars planned through 2030, dropping from the initial 11 billion euros to 5.5 billion announced with the latest financial statements.
Mazda’s first plug-in vehicle, which according to plans was supposed to be released next year, had already been postponed to 2027, while now CEO Masahiro Moro had to admit a delay to 2029.
WHO STARTS LATER…
“Mazda’s strategy for electric vehicles, initially slow, suddenly seems smarter with the increase in hybrid vehicle sales,” comments the well-known publication Autoblog highlighting how the Japanese automaker has so far preferred to avoid launching any battery vehicle (the aforementioned Subaru has launched two EV SUVs, for example) but this does not mean it is behind its rivals, who now, given the delicate market situation, find themselves struggling, forced to scrap the costly electrification plans of their lineups announced with great fanfare in past years.
