Subaru and Toyota initially joined up in 2005 and in April 2008, the two automakers decided to work together on a new rear-wheel-drive coupe. Four years later, the Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S (Toyota 86 in Japan) are now starting to roll off the line in Japan.
The two automakers recently celebrated the kick off in which Toyota President Akio Toyoda said, “I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the ceaseless efforts of all FHI people and staff who were involved in the development, production and preparations
for both models. The Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86 not have been successfully developed without collaboration between FHI and TMC. We started the alliance for mutual growth in 2005. Now I’m delighted to see this moment that our alliance surely bore fruit.”
Fuji Heavy Industries (Subaru) President Yasuyuki Yoshinaga stated, “the car symbolizes our corporate strategy in two significant aspects: good progress of our alliances; and advancement of our “select and focus” approach. The start of production today made a huge step for us, but it is not our goal. By constantly refining both models, TMC and FHI hope to nourish each model to be loved by customers all over the world for a long time to come.”
Subaru and Toyota have yet to announce the pricing for the Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S. Although its been reported that Subaru is only going to bring 6,000 units of the BRZ to the U.S. in its first year.
