Toyota Subaru Merger: The Toyota-Subaru merger is one that got many car enthusiasts talking; however much about what is said is NOT TRUE! Let’s crack the myths.
- Toyota bought Subaru
This is not true, however Subaru Corporation(Former Fuji Heavy Industries) recently became a member of the Toyota Group after Toyota increased its stake to 20%. Toyota first bought stake at Subaru in 2005 after GM liquidated its shares and Toyota acquired 8.7%, stake. In July 2008, they increased their stake to 16.5% and finally to 20% recently.
- These days Subarus are built looking like Toyota’s because of the merger.
Again this is not true. Subaru has always had its own unique design language. The most recent being the Viziv Adrenaline Concept unveiled at last year’s (2019) Geneva Motorshow.
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However Toyota and Subaru have worked on joint projects like the Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ and they have confirmed that they will work on a 2nd generation too. Also the two have announced a joint development venture to produce a new platform for battery electric vehicles.
They will also be jointly developing a new Electric Vehicle (EV) that will merge Toyota’s electrification technology and Subaru’s knowhow on All Wheel Drive.(We know they are good at this)
There is also word that Subaru’s future sports cars will not be based on the Impreza’s platform anymore; they will borrow Toyota’s TNGA architecture (Toyota New Global Architecture) in which the new aggressive and sporty Toyota Yaris is based on.
- Because Toyota bought Subaru, now Subaru are producing “dudus”
This is not true and is sheer display of ignorance. I will explain why.
In the 1950s, Subaru were very good at building super-minis. In today’s world, super-minis are the preferred cars for many urban dwellers, mostly because of their fuel economy and size to fit into tight parking spots.
Now, Toyota owns Daihatsu Motor Corporation which largely produces super-mini city cars. So as not to compete with Subaru in that market, Toyota and Subaru agreed that Subaru would not produce super-minis and therefore would buy them from Daihatsu and give them a Subaru badge.
This explains the following
– Subaru Dex is a re-badged Toyota BB which is made by Daihatsu.
– Subaru Pleo is a re-badged Dihatsu Mira
-Subaru Trezia is a Toyota Ractics.(This one is made by Toyota)
As I conclude; Subaru Motor Corporation is aiming to produce Electric Vehicles and Cross-Over SUVs that are plug-in hybrids in the future. In the coming years, most celebrated Subarus will disappear. Cars are produced for the market to buy, unfortunately car enthusiasts are a very small fraction of the market.
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