Toyota Motor Corporation and Subaru Corporation have agreed to jointly develop a platform dedicated to battery electric vehicles (BEVs), as well as to develop a C-segment-class BEV sports utility vehicle model for sale under each company’s own brand.

The platform will target BEVs for midsize and large passenger vehicles.

By combining the automakers’ respective strengths – such as the all-wheel-drive technologies that Subaru has cultivated over many years and the vehicle electrification technologies that Toyota has employed – they intend to take up the challenge of creating attractive products with appeal that only BEVs can offer.

Toyota and Subaru first concluded a business collaboration agreement in 2005, which has since resulted in the companies deepening their cooperation in fields including development, production and sale – for example, their jointly developed rear-wheel-drive Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ vehicles in 2012 and Subaru’s Crosstek hybrid electric vehicle.

A recent statement issued by the automakers noted that the automotive industry was in a period of profound transformation.

Starting with responses to the new ‘CASE’ domains of car connectivity, autonomous or assisted driving, new mobility or car-sharing, and electrified powertrains and components, both Subaru and Toyota have been required to conduct technological development speedily across a broader-than-ever spectrum of initiatives.

In addressing vehicle electrification, efficient and speedy development of appropriate products is a must, owing to significant variation in the energy situations of each country or region and in government policies, as well as resulting differences in environmental regulations, in the stages of infrastructure preparation and in market needs for electrified vehicles.

Toyota and Subaru stated that the commercialisation of BEVs required the use of large-capacity batteries and, along with the popularisation of BEVs, demands for new dimensions would be placed on battery supply.