Subaru will start selling electric cars domestically in 2009, a year ahead of its initial plans, Fuji Heavy Industries President Ikuo Mori told a news conference Tuesday.
Subaru currently has 40 units of its electric R1e in operation in Japan in customer trials. The company is targeting first-year sales of its electric car at 100 units.
With the price of gasoline stuck at high levels, the maker of Subaru brand vehicles expects its electric-powered offerings to draw some demand, mainly from the corporate sector.
Although Subaru has yet to disclose the price of its first electric vehicle, it intends to ramp up production to help drive down battery costs, to achieve price of its electric cars to around Y2 million ($US17, 000) apiece by 2012 to 2013 to also tap demand from individuals.
By the mid-2010s, when the cost of batteries can be expected to drop significantly thanks to economies of scale from mass production, electric cars "could come down to as low as below 1.5 million yen ($13.100)", Mori said.
It was also revealed Tuesday that Fuji Heavy had set its 2008 worldwide auto sales target at 630,000 units, up 8% from its sales projection for 2007.