Subaru held a special ceremony today at its Gunma factory in Ota-city, Japan, to mark the series production start of the Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86 (named GT 86 in Europe) rear-wheel drive coupes. The presidents of both companies attended the event.
The factory, which will produce both models as well as the Impreza by March 2013, underwent several changes to cope with the extra capacity.
The two Japanese automakers first agreed on business collaboration in October 2005, and after expanding their ties with new agreements related to development and production in April 2008, they began designing the coupe models, the production versions of which were presented at the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show last December.
At the ceremony, Toyota’s 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 would not have been successfully developed without collaboration between FHI and TMC.”
Yasuyuki Yoshinaga, the president of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd, which is Subaru’s parent company, said: “The car symbolizes our corporate strategy in two significant aspects: good progress of our alliances; and advancement of our “select and focus” approach.”
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