Subaru Officially Withdraws From World Rally Championship

Blaming the bad economy, Subaru confirmed its sudden departure from the 2009 World Rally Championship. Will this ever end?

So far we've gotten confirmation of Subaru and Suzuki out of WRC, Porsche (LMP2) and Audi (LMP1) out of ALMS, and Honda out of F1. Porque?

It's all about the Carpocalypse. If a company dictates X% cuts across the board or needs to reduce expenses X% this is sometimes the easiest way to do it. There's an argument to be made the old adage "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" doesn't work if people aren't buying on Monday. Nevertheless, this is a major bummer for fans of the three large series

Prodrive/SWRT Announcement
Subaru has announced its decision to withdraw from the 2009 World Rally Championship.

This sudden decision was in response to the widespread economic downturn that is affecting the entire automotive industry, and follows Suzuki’s withdrawal announced yesterday.

After 20 years in the sport, during which time the Prodrive-run Subaru World Rally Team has won six World Rally Championship titles, this is not only sad news for Subaru and the team, but also for millions of rallying fans around the world. Thanks to its highly successful World Rally Championship programme, Subaru has developed into one of the world’s most widely recognised and evocative automotive brands.

Prodrive chairman, David Richards, said: “Subaru’s departure from the World Rally Championship is a great loss as it is one of the sport’s icons. The Subaru World Rally Team has created true champions such as Colin McRae and Richard Burns and its absence will be felt by many the world over. Although this decision closes a significant chapter in Prodrive’s history, our focus now turns to the future.”

For many, Prodrive and Subaru are synonymous, given the long-standing and close association between the two companies. However, while the Subaru World Rally Team historically represented a significant part of Prodrive’s business, today it accounts for no more than 20 per cent of the company’s turnover.

Prodrive will look to redeploy as many of the rally team as possible in other areas of its business operations, which have grown to span advanced engineering and manufacturing for the automotive, defence, marine and aerospace industries, in addition to other motorsport programmes.

Despite the current economic downturn, Prodrive’s automotive engineering business remains buoyant as it works with vehicle manufacturers to accelerate the development of next generation fuel-efficient vehicles and alternative fuel technologies.

Together with Subaru, Prodrive’s commitment to its customer rally teams will also continue unabated for 2009 and beyond. Over the past 15 years, Prodrive has sold close to 500 rally cars to more than 400 private competitors and independent rally teams in 47 countries. During this time, Prodrive’s customers have won five consecutive Production World Rally Championships and countless international rallies. In 2008, Prodrive-supported customer teams have claimed eight rally championship titles around the world.

Looking ahead, 2010 will see the introduction of new World Rally Championship technical regulations, which provide Prodrive with an opportunity to prepare for re-entering the championship with a new team and build on its 24 years of World Rally Championship experience and success.

FHI Announcement
okyo, December 16, 2008 – Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (FHI), the maker of Subaru automobiles, today announced the withdrawal from the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) at the end of the 2008 season.

FHI has participated in the WRC together with Prodrive, a motorsports and automotive engineering group in the UK, over the past 19 years to pursue its goal and philosophy in motor sports activities to enhance Subaru brand awareness by showing that Subaru vehicles offer safe, comfortable and pleasurable driving no matter the weather or road conditions, featuring Horizontally-Opposed engine and the Symmetrical All-Wheel drive system as its core technologies, and to transfer results of race-tested technical improvements into Subaru passenger vehicles.

Subaru has won three manufacturer’s championship titles and three driver’s championship titles in its history of rally racing. This has helped enhance the value of the Subaru brand as well as the sales expansion of Subaru vehicles all over the world.

FHI considers it has achieved its original target in WRC participation. However, while considering positioning the WRC activity in Subaru branding strategy towards the future, our business environment has been dramatically changed due to the quick deterioration of the global economy. In order to optimize the management resources and to strengthen further the Subaru brand, FHI decided to withdraw from WRC activities at the earliest timing.

As regards future involvement in rally activities, FHI will continue to support teams and drivers that participate in P-WRC or the Group N category.

President Mori commented that reaching this decision has been an extremely difficult task, not least with regards to the countless Subaru fans that for many years have cheered the legendary Subaru blue liveried Impreza World Rally Car; “We would like to express our sincere appreciation for our fans’ strong and loyal support worldwide. They will remain an invaluable treasure for us.”

Capitalizing on the priceless experience gained throughout the history in the WRC field, FHI will continue to offer Subaru customers products that integrate sheer excitement, safe, comfortable and reliable driving, respect of the global environment and peace of mind based on its philosophy of “Customer comes first.”

[Source: Subaru, Prodrive]

Report: Toyota to halve Japanese production

The global downturn in car sales is a familiar topic these days, and even the production juggernaut of Toyota is facing unseen declines in demand for its products. To help realign output with that demand, the carmaker recently announced plans to shut down all 12 of its Japanese plants for a total of 11 days in February and March. Latest reports indicate that the carmaker will also build just half the number of vehicles it produced the previous year in Japan for the months of February, March and April.

Toyota confirms 2012 U.S. launch for electric vehicles

Toyota used last week’s Detroit Auto Show to unveil its new FT-EV concept, a compact urban runabout based on the iQ minicar and powered by an all-electric drivetrain. The carmaker also used the Detroit event to announce plans to launch an urban commuter ‘battery-electric vehicle’ (BEV) by 2012 in the United States. While it’s safe to assume the new electric vehicle will be similar in shape and size to the FT-EV concept, Toyota’s national alternative-fuel vehicle manager in the U.S., Bill Reinert, has revealed to Automotive News that the carmaker is still determining what platform and what model will be battery powered.

Toyota founder’s grandson will replace CEO by June

Following Toyota’s shock announcement recently that the company is expecting to post a ¥150 billion ($1.7 billion) loss for the year ending March 2009, comes an official announcement that Akio Toyoda, the 52 year-old grandson of Toyota's founder Kiichiro Toyoda, will step into the role of CEO in June. Toyoda will replace current chief Katsuaki Watanabe, who will step down to the more advisory role of vice chairman. Toyoda will be the first member of the family in 14 years to become the company's chief.

Toyota confirms iQ under consideration for U.S.

Toyota’s new iQ minicar is set to go on sale in Japan and most parts of Europe very soon, but there are now indications from one of the carmaker’s top officials that the diminutive hatch could make its way to the United States. There has been plenty of speculation that the iQ could be sold in the U.S., including a recent report claiming that it could be badged as a Scion. Then in October, Toyota’s small car projects chief, Soichiro Okudaira, confirmed that a U.S. launch of the iQ was under consideration.

Toyota may sell current Prius alongside third-gen model

Within days of unveiling of the Insight Hybrid concept vehicle at last year’s Paris Motor Show, Honda CEO Takeo Fukui boasted that the production version would arrive on the market at a price around the ¥2 million ($18,864) mark. This was the first sign that Honda was planning to aggressively tackle its main rival Toyota and its Prius, which currently lists for $21,500. At the Detroit Auto Show last week, Toyota unveiled a bigger, more powerful, better equipped, and most importantly, more fuel-efficient, third-generation Prius, and although pricing details are yet to be revealed the new 2010 model will most likely be more expensive than the outgoing one.
2009 Honda Insight Hybrid

Toyota to build more cars in North America than Chrysler

Toyota's North American car output will surpass Chrysler's for the first time during the first quarter of 2009. The two companies' downward trajectories will soon cross, leaving Toyota as the third largest domestic producer behind Ford and General Motors. Both Chrysler and Toyota are sharply cutting back their production, so it's a story of relative gain rather than absolute. Nevertheless, by building a planned 280,500 cars in Q1 2009, Toyota will outstrip Chrysler by over 20,000 units, reports Automotive News. Those figures amount to a 31.8% decrease for Toyota and an even more dramatic 50.6% decrease for Chrysler.

Toyota Prius plug-in hybrids averaging 65mpg in initial testing

Major carmakers are rushing to develop a new generation of plug-in hybrid vehicles including industry giants Toyota and GM, which hope to have the technology ready for sale by the end of the decade. GM appears to have the lead at the moment, forming a partnership with LG Chem to develop and manufacture long life lithium-ion batteries for its upcoming Chevrolet Volt. Toyota, meanwhile, has been relatively secretive about its plug-in hybrid advancement but has now revealed some details about its progress.

Toyota forecasts $4.95 billion loss

Toyota has forecast its first operating loss in 71 years, citing falling demand and an appreciating yen as the key factors leading to its poor performance. Despite predicting late last year that its loss would only amount to ¥150 billion ($1.7 billion) in the year through March, the carmaker has now forecast an annual loss three times greater than this. The world's largest carmaker now says its first annual operating loss in seven decades will be ¥450 billion ($4.95 billion) for the fiscal year ending March 31.

2010 Lexus RX350 / RX450h - Second Drive

More than 10 years ago, Lexus created the RX300, a luxury SUV built on a Camry platform. In doing so, the automaker demonstrated to the world that an SUV needn’t spring from a body-on-frame truck and helped bring the word “crossover” into the lexicon. The world responded by buying the smooth-riding Lexus RX at a staggering pace, encouraging automakers everywhere to rush their own car-based luxury sport-utes to market.

In our case, the RX came across mostly as a snore. The handling could have been better, and sportiness was absent; the RX had the flavor of buttered noodles, reminding us of another Lexus, the dull ES sedan. Nevertheless, we had to admit the RX was refined, easy to live with, and seemingly engineered to relax the driver in a way that escapes most crossover utility vehicles.

The third generation of the RX arrives at dealers as you read this, and although Lexus has declined to turn it into a sports car, the final product will continue to appeal to current owners and may win over customers interested in downsizing their sport-utes.

Keep Reading: 2010 Lexus RX350 / RX450h - Second Drive