Subaru could be part of Toyota soon

[andy82471]

http://news.windingroad.com/earningsfinanc...oyota-takeover/

Toyota has owned an 8.7-percent minority stake in Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru’s parent company, since October 2005, but it now appears that the automotive juggernaut has a clear road to acquire a controlling stake in the near-term. A change in Japan’s antitrust legislation earlier this month will enable Toyota to swallow up the all-wheel-drive manufacturer.

In a new interview conducted by TheCarConnection, Subaru CEO Ikuo Mori admits that for all intents and purposes, his company would likely not survive without Toyota’s deep pockets. The executive is quick to point out that this doesn’t mean that Subaru will become “just another Toyota division,” and goes into some detail regarding Fuji Heavy’s troubled earlier business relationship with General Motors.

Subaru hopes to increase its sales by 15-percent in the next year, which would give it around 635,000 units worldwide.

If Toyota does buy a controlling stake at Subaru sometime next year, that would give them another 635,000 vehicle that they will add to their lineup. That means Toyota will be ahead of GM by a wide margin. I think GM missed an opportunity with Subaru and its AWD technology.

Edited November 3, 2007 by andy82471

[Oracle of Delphi]

I agree with you, Subaru should have been bought by GM and added to GM Daewoo as an operational unit.

Edited November 3, 2007 by Pontiac Custom-S

[Drew Dowdell]

I think it depends how they are folded in. Mazda sales are not counted with Ford for example.

I'm sure Toyota will do what it take to make sure they around counted together though.

[Paolino]

So Toyota is going to break Subaru now?

[cire]

I know Subaru needs help, but does it have to come from Toyota?

On the other hand, I guess it might be appropriate from a design perspective. Both companies have compact sedans (Subaru Impreza and Toyota Corolla) that look like they emerged from design teams suffering from sedative-induced comas.

[Newbiewar]

i think this is a perfect example of how toyota's focus has gone away from quality to quanity...

it was GM's downfall to worry about every other business except for their own cars... and now that they are going back to just that... its getting some attention and respect... still needs more but its getting there....

its worried so much about that #1 spot, they claim they dont want... they are willing to buy fuji industries, that heavy duty truck company they bought... and a bunch of others...

its painfully obvious they arent concerned about their consumers... besides, the more you have whether it 6 million a year, or 9 million a year, the more you have the harder it is to tend to them...

GM is downsizing, and its quality is going up, toyota is growing and quality is going down... both selling the same number of cars, and GM seems to be the more stable opponent...