Subaru Ends Europe Combustion Sales by 2027, Leaving Three Toyota-Twin EVs

Subaru will stop selling combustion-engine cars in Europe by the end of 2027 at the latest, and from 2028 will sell only three battery-electric models there, according to Auto Motor und Sport, which said Subaru Deutschland confirmed the plan when asked on Oct. 16. Electrek picked it up on Oct. 20.

The reason given is regulation. Subaru told the German outlet that EU CO2 fleet limits and mandatory driver-assistance and safety systems make it harder for smaller manufacturers to homologate and sell cars in Europe. No named Subaru executive is quoted in either report.

The phase-out, model by model

When	What leaves or stays	Powertrain
2026	Outback leaves Europe	2.5-liter boxer, 169 hp
2027	Impreza, Crosstrek, Forester leave	2.0-liter mild-hybrid boxer, 136 hp
From 2028	Solterra, E-Outback, Uncharted remain	Battery electric

The three survivors are twins of Toyota's bZ4X, bZ4X Touring and C-HR+, per Auto Motor und Sport. Whether a full hybrid might come to Europe is completely open, the German outlet wrote, and there are no concrete plans. In the US, the Crosstrek and Forester already use a 2.5-liter full-hybrid boxer rated at 197 hp, and the decision applies to Europe only.

The gap between 2028 and the in-house platform

The same week, Subaru showed reporters its first dedicated EV platform at a test course north of Tokyo, according to Electrek's Oct. 19 report, which cites Automotive News and Motor-Fan.jp. The test vehicle was a camouflaged, Outback-based all-wheel-drive mule. Subaru said its design is not final.

Subaru's figures for the mule are 509 hp (380 kW) combined and 0 to 62 mph in under 4 seconds. These are company numbers from a prototype, and nobody independent has measured them.

Takatomo Watamori, the executive officer in charge of engineering, framed the move away from Toyota as a matter of control: "By developing vehicles in-house and having EV technologies on our own," Electrek quoted him, with the sentence cut off in its report. The 2024 plan with Toyota had been four co-developed electric SUVs by the end of 2026.

1. Europe mild-hybrid 2.0-liter boxer136 hp
2. Europe Outback 2.5-liter boxer169 hp
3. US full-hybrid 2.5-liter boxer197 hp
4. EV test mule, AWD (Subaru figure)509 hp

Source: Auto Motor und Sport, Oct. 16, 2026; Electrek, Oct. 19 and 20, 2026. The 509 hp figure is Subaru's own, for a prototype.

What the pack and motors are claimed to do

The mule's motors were built with Aisin Group, and engineers claim a 30 percent efficiency gain over the industry average, per Electrek. The battery is a Panasonic Energy pack of 4,000 cylindrical cells that Subaru says is 24 percent lighter than its previous pack, with a target energy density 20 percent above the industry average.

An in-house integrated control unit will handle over-the-air updates and the EyeSight driver-assistance system, and Subaru is developing a custom AI chip with AMD for later EyeSight versions. Electrek gives no pack capacity or range, and no launch date. Some of the technology rolls out around 2029.

The timing is the point. For comparison, Volkswagen's ID. Cross Trend opened for orders in Europe at €27,995, and Mercedes has its AMG GT SUV on a 128 kWh pack. If the in-house platform reaches cars around 2029, the European range from 2028 is, for at least a year, the Toyota-derived trio. That is the Terminal's inference from the dates, not something Subaru said. Subaru also has a volume goal to carry: 1.2 million vehicles a year in the first half of the 2030s, against about 924,000 sold in 2025 and a record of 1.1 million in 2018, per Electrek.

What would change my read is a firm launch date for the first in-house EV. The next confirmed milestone is the Outback's departure from the European range before the end of 2026.