Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) and Subaru Corporation (Subaru) agreed today on a new business and capital alliance with the aim of further developing and strengthening their long-term partnership.
Ever since concluding an agreement on business collaboration in 2005, partnership between Toyota and Subaru has included contract production by Subaru of Toyota vehicles and supply by Toyota of vehicles to Subaru, as well as joint development of the rear-wheel-drive Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ sports car models.
Also, with vast changes enveloping the automotive industry, which is being called on to respond to the new domains of CASE (connected, autonomous/automated, shared, and electric), Toyota and Subaru disclosed in June this year that they have agreed to jointly develop a platform dedicated to battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and to jointly develop a BEV model, both of which will employ Subaru’s AWD technologies and Toyota’s vehicle electrification technologies.
In this once-in-a-century period of profound transformation, by strengthening their bonds and aligning their capabilities, Toyota and Subaru aim to pursue driving enjoyment in the CASE era and to make ever-better cars beyond what either company has been able to achieve thus far. Furthermore, to deepen their relationship and to strengthen their ties toward advancing to the next stage while respecting the identity of each other’s brand, the two companies have agreed that Toyota will increase its equity stake in Subaru and that Subaru will acquire shares in Toyota.