Subaru getting its first hybrid to US in 2012?

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Even though Subaru has been talking about being environmentally friendly for a long time, their green cars have not been available in the US. Now Subaru is talking a lot more seriously and is planning to license and adapt Toyota’s hybrid synergy drive to use in its drivetrains.

The manufacturer will have to do that to meet President Obama’s stricter auto norms in the future if it wants to have a market in the US. Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., the maker of Subaru-brand cars, may introduce a gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle by 2012, as the U.S., Japan and Europe tighten their emission rules, according a Bloomberg report.

Which of Subaru’s popular models will get green is not yet known. It is likely that Japan and Europe, too, will get stricter in their auto emission norms and then Subaru will be forced to adapt its vehicles to market conditions.