Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., the maker of Subaru vehicles, will suspend sales of its electric vehicles for up to five years while it waits for the market to mature and the necessary infrastructure to be put in place, it has been learned.
Sales of Subaru’s Plug-in Stella minicar, the first mass-produced electric vehicle in the nation, could be suspended from as early as March—less than two years after hitting the market in July last year.
Recharging facilities for electric vehicles remain few and far between in many areas, and the lithium-ion batteries installed in the vehicles are still expensive. FHI concluded these and other factors would deter some people from buying electric cars and prevent the market from maturing in the foreseeable future.
FHI believes it will not be able to turn a profit in the small-scale electric vehicle business for some time.
The Stella, priced at 4.72 million yen, was primarily targeted at corporate users and local governments. The automaker expects to sell 400 units by March.
From April, however, FHI will halt production of the cars on which its electric vehicles are based.
FHI plans to concentrate its resources on the development and production of fuel-efficient gasoline-powered vehicles and hybrid vehicles, according to sources.
But the automaker plans to reenter the electric vehicle market in around 2016 because automakers will need a lineup with electric vehicles that do not emit CO2 and meet emission control requirements in the United States.
FHI also expects recharging and other facilities around the nation to have been improved by 2016, while the price of lithium-ion batteries will fall, making electric vehicles more popular.
The Stella went on the market at about the same time as Mitsubishi Motors Corp. put its electric car on sale. Nissan Motor Co. started domestic sales of its fully electric Leaf on Dec. 20, and Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. will put electric vehicles on the market in 2012. Suzuki Motor Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp. have not decided when they will enter the market.
