New Laws Pave the Way for Toyota to Acquire Subaru

Changes to Japan’s antitrust laws has leaves the path open for industry giant Toyota to take over Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent company of Subaru. Toyota has owned an 8.7% stake of Fuji Heavy since October 2005 but according to analysts, the company always wanted a controlling stake but couldn’t due to the antitrust laws at the time. According to Automotive News, combined sales of Toyota and Fuji Heavy comprised 45.6% of the Japanese domestic market in 2006.


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jt716 - 2/5/2007 1:30:50 PM

-3 Boost

They are going to make all of the Subarus ugly then!

thecar - 2/5/2007 1:35:55 PM

-2 Boost

they will make subaru as DaiHaTsu #2 ,
Poor Subbie

james_may - 2/6/2007 10:12:08 AM

+2 Boost

you r dead wrong
look at new Impreza , ugly revolution

Legacy look like untouched and tribeca changes to Legacy grill ? now thats the beginning of a down turn.

Shredmo - 2/5/2007 2:47:54 PM

+4 Boost

I hope Toyota keeps building Toyotas the way they currently do and I hope they keep making Subarus the way they currently make Subarus. Intermixing the brands will only cheapen them both.

I prefer Toyotas to be streamlined and reliable for the everyday Joe. I prefer Subarus to be fast, safe, reliable and different than the ordinary car. Subarus may be ugly, but I'll keep buying them.

c320amg - 2/6/2007 10:26:15 AM

+1 Boost

toyota does things their way.
They love to 'keep making cars the way they currently makes' but will ditch all unnecessary models pretty fast.

toyota drop daihatsu's compact sedan line and only make K cars. I can see subaru will get the tribeca dropped and only use 1 platform.

trd1 - 2/5/2007 6:14:50 PM

+1 Boost

first that subaru up there is not ugly, unless you put a mirrior in front of it and i hope that toyota just makes subarus look like subarus.

Agent63 - 2/5/2007 8:15:52 PM

+1 Boost

Toyota would probably steal the off roading capabilities and slap it on some of their models. Perhaps even take turbo charge some of their engines and share some chassis and suspension to make handling better. I sure hope Toyota does not upmarket themselves and degrade Subaru to be there toy company that can afford to loose.

S4cabriofoxone - 2/5/2007 9:50:52 PM

+2 Boost

This would be very interesting! Subaru would be positioned as Toyota's sporty arm... but I can't help but worry that it would interfere with Scion.

Hopefully, they can get a new designer. The Legacy is good- but the others are butt-ugly, and even I know that Toyotas are better-looking.

ElSparquito - 2/6/2007 12:38:53 PM

+2 Boost

Not bad news for Subaru. They now have access to a vast amount of resources that Toyota can provide and Toyota gets access to decent AWD systems and performance oriented engineering (excl. TRD). Now I wonder what will come first: a hybrid WRX (is there a turbo hybrid in existence?) or an AWD Corolla with a turbo flat four?