Subaru is spending nearly $10,000 per vehicle to sell its new EVs
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- Subaru is spending roughly $9,000 per vehicle in incentives on its electric SUVs — $9,650 on the Solterra, $9,155 on the Uncharted, and $8,982 on the Trailseeker — roughly three times the $3,036 average the automaker spends on its gas-powered Outback.
- The heavy EV incentive spending drove a ¥24.9 billion ($155 million) hit to Subaru's profits in the fiscal first quarter and contributed to a 44% drop in operating profit, which totaled ¥42.6 billion ($270 million).
- Subaru's average marketing costs per vehicle rose 40% to $2,698, significantly outpacing the broader market's 4.4% increase in incentive spending, though Subaru's overall incentive level remains below the industry average of $3,479.
- Through July, Subaru sold 11,638 EVs across its three models, with the new Uncharted (2,850 units) and Trailseeker (3,513) more than offsetting a 34% decline in Solterra sales (5,275 units).
- Subaru's electric SUVs share a platform with Toyota, whose bZ ranks as the fourth-best-selling EV in the US with sales up 90% year-over-year — and notably, Toyota's per-vehicle spending on the bZ actually fell 7.6% to $8,588.
- Incentive spending on Subaru's gas-powered lineup also climbed sharply, rising 27% on average for the BRZ, Outback, and Legacy, and 49% for trucks.
Why it matters: Subaru is paying roughly $9,000 per EV — triple what it spends on the Outback — to move electric SUVs off lots, and that burn shaved $155 million off quarterly profits and drove a 44% operating profit decline. The contrast with Toyota's bZ (fourth-best-selling US EV with lower per-vehicle spending) shows Subaru's incentive load is a self-inflicted margin problem, not an industry-wide EV pricing issue.
