- Toyota now owns a 20% in Subaru, up from 16.8%.
- This will accelerate R&D for Subaru.
- Subaru and Toyota have worked together over the years and have many other projects in the pipeline.
No matter how we look at this piece of news, we can see no flaws or drawbacks. Both of these car companies are in their prime, producing the best cars and SUVs in their history. As we all know, Toyota and Subaru have co-developed some cars in the past with generally good results. This new strengthening of bonds can mean only good things for all.
For Subaru, this situation present the opportunity to further accelerate electrification and autonomous driving. We assume it also indicates that lower-volume performance cars such as the WRX and WRX STI have a future. If anything, we know that Akio Toyoda likes sports cars!
As far as we tell, Subaru’s integration into the Toyota Group will not impact its current product line. We recall rumours of the return of the Toyota Venza – perhaps it will be Outback based! Maybe not…
Now that this is a done deal, we are very much looking forward to the next-generation Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86, and all others that will follow.
Source: Nippon.com
