Subaru to launch electric SUV in Europe

Subaru plans to launch a full-electric SUV in Europe within the next five years.

The model will be built on a new electric platform co-developed by Subaru and Toyota called e-TNGA.

In a statement, Subaru said its upcoming EV underlines its "efforts to reduce its environmental footprint in Europe and satisfy a growing demand for alternative powertrains."

Subaru said it will start selling the electric SUV in Europe "in the first half of the 2020s." It will be similar in size to the Subaru Forester model, the automaker said, adding that it will disclose more details in 2021.

A document leaked earlier this year appears to show that Subaru will start production of the car in 2022. The SUV will be called Evoltis, Japanese media reports say.

Subaru announced its first EV in January during a presentation in which it said it expected that at least 40 percent of its sales will be full-electric or hybrid vehicles by 2030.

Subaru's vehicle sales in Europe fell 34 percent to 16,944 in the first 11 months, according to data from JATO Dynamics market researchers.

Subaru's European sales have dropped in recent years as the automaker struggled to overcome high fuel consumption from its signature combination of all-wheel-drive and 'boxer' engines with horizontally opposed cylinders.

The automaker responded by using its relationship with its industrial partner and minority shareholder Toyota to fit Toyota's hybrid system to its engines. The system is marketed as e-Boxer and in Europe is fitted to the Subaru XV compact SUV. The company has also launched mild-hybrid versions of three of its models.

Toyota said earlier this month that will start selling a battery-powered SUV "in couple of years." It will be similar in size to the RAV4 and also based on the e-TNGA platform.

The e-TNGA platform will support rear-wheel-, front-wheel- and all-wheel-drive layouts and differing battery sizes ranging from 50 kilowatt hours to 100 kWh, Toyota has said.

The platform is flexible enough to accommodate everything from an SUV with three rows of seating to a sedan, a small crossover or a compact car.

Toyota said it would eventually produce six models for both the Toyota and Lexus brands on the platform.