A Subaru sports car concept isn’t as far-fetched as you might think. Just check out the Subaru Sport Mobility Concept at Headlight.News.
Perhaps best known for its off-road crossovers and utes, Subaru went back to its sports car roots with the SMC at the Japan Mobility Show.
In a show filled with battery electric sports car proposals, including the Honda Prelude, Toyota FT-Se Concept and Nissan Hyper Force Concept, you might not expect Subaru to show one. But in fact, they have. It’s the Subaru Sport Mobility Concept, an all-electric sports car concept boasting all-wheel-drive unveiled at the Japan Mobility Show. The exhibition opens to the public on Thursday.
Subaru’s new sports car concept is supposed to preview Subaru’s newest design direction.
Subaru’s new sports car concept is supposed to preview Subaru’s newest design direction, one meant to minimize surfaces and character lines. Its six light pixels within each headlamp are meant to echo the six stars in the Subaru logo.
Of course, the company only produces one EV at the moment, the Solterra, which is basically a rebadged Toyota bZ4X. Meanwhile it’s only sports car, the Subaru BRZ, is built in conjunction with Toyota, although Subaru seems is far more responsible this car’s engineering compared to that of the Solterra.
The words Subaru and sports car are not ones you’d naturally use together, despite the fact they make an excellent rally car, the WRX as well as the fun-to-drive BRZ sports coupe.
That said, both the Solterra and BR-Z have relatively small volumes stateside, with Subaru selling 919 Solterras and 3,345 BRZs in 2022, according to Automotive News. For the first six months of 2023, Subaru did better, retailing 2,972 Solterras and 2,512 BRZs.
The words Subaru and sports car are not ones you’d naturally use together, despite the fact they make an excellent rally car, the WRX.
But aside from the long-lived WRX rally car, the only sports car of any note from Subaru has been the Giorgetto Giugiaro designed SVX, produced from 1991 through 1997. Powered by a 230-horsepower 3.3-liter double-overhead cam horizontally-opposed six-cylinder engine, it was a striking car with all-wheel drive that few seemed to notice or respect.
There were no details about its electric powertrain.
Certainly, the Subaru Sport Mobility Concept is noticeable, but whether it will ever reach showrooms remains to be seen.
With aspirations to sell half of its global volume, or approximately 600,000 vehicles, from fully electric models by 2030, Subaru intends to increase the number of EV models in its lineup to eight. So conceivably, it could have a future.
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