Archive for Subaru

Toyota has officially revealed plans for its upcoming sports car co-development program with Fuji Heavy Industries, who owns the Subaru brand. The compact rear wheel drive car will feature a Subaru boxer engine, and both Toyota and Subaru will market the car separately under its respective badges. It will be built on a new Subaru platform, but will be designed by Toyota.

“I think there is high potential for this car. We haven’t had a sports car for a long time. This is a long-awaited-for model. Pricing would be not prohibitively high,” said Toyota Motor Corp CEO Katsuaki Watanabe. The car should be quite fun indeed, with rear wheel drive dynamics and that rumbly boxer engine note.

Since FHI president Ikuo Mori says he has personally driven a test version of the car and is pleased with it, development must have been going on for quite some time now. The car will be launched in 2011.

Other Toyota-FHI joint ventures will also increase, and FHI will stop producing compact vehicles of its own design. It will use Daihatsu badge engineered vehicles instead. The Subaru Justy based on the Daihatsu Boon was the first such Daihatsu-based compact vehicle, with the next one set to be a Subaru-badged Daihatsu Coo in October 2008.

Also confirmed is Toyota’s increase in Subaru stakeholding from the current 8.7% up to 16.5% in a deal valued at 31.1 billion yen (US$311 million).

Naza World has brought in 3 new cars - the Nissan GT-R, the latest Subaru Impreza WRX and the Nissan Dualis SUV. These cars are priced at RM728,999, RM302,999 and RM229,999 respectively.

The Nissan GT-R really needs no introduction, with publications all around the world raving about the 911-killing supercar. Under the hood is a twin turbocharged 3.8 liter V6 putting out 450 horsepower and 502Nm of torque, hooked up to a transaxle twin clutch gearbox mounted at the rear for optimum weight distribution. Of course, the GT-R must have the ATTESA E-TS all wheel drive system. 0 to 100km/h takes 3.8 seconds.

The latest generation Subaru Impreza WRX with a hatchback body instead of the previous generation’s sedan body is powered by a 2.5 liter boxer engine. The new boxer is 22.6kg lighter than the previous model and produces more low end torque. Peak horsepower and torque are 224 horsepower and 306Nm.

Price at over RM200K, the Nissan Dualis will be an alternative to those who are jaded with all the Muranos going around. The Nissan Dualis is the Japanese/Australian market name for the Nissan Qashqai. Naza is bringing in the 5-seater version.

The Dualis has a 4WD drivetrain and a 2.0 liter engine producing 137 horsepower and 198Nm of torque. It has 6 airbags and stability control. It has a 200mm ground clearance, 30.2 departure angle and a 19.2 degrees approach angle for those who are concerned about some off-roading related numbers.

More images of the cars after the jump.

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Japanese business newspaper Nikkei Shimbun reported that Toyota is considering raising its current 8.7% stake in Fuji Heavy Industries (Subaru) to about 17%, in a deal that is valued at 30 billion yen, or RM937 million ringgit, pending a review by Japan’s Fair Trade Commission.

Subaru will remain somewhat independent and not be considered a Toyota subsidiary as the resulting shareholding by Toyota will be under 20%. In a response to Nikkei’s report, Subaru says it still does not have anything to announce at the moment as the stakeholding increase is not final yet and still under discussions.

Of course, such reports will always affect share prices. Subaru shares went up 6.6% on the day the Nikkei reported the news.

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Check out this drag racing-tuned Subaru Brumby with a Subaru WRX turbocharged boxer engine under its hood. When I say under the hood, I mean most of it anyway - check out the turbocharger sticking out of the hood! The EJ22 engine (stroked up to 2.34 liters) puts out 495 horsepower now (in the video it makes between 420 and 470 depending on whether nitrous oxide is used), and does the quarter mile in 10.41 seconds. Video after jump.

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Subaru’s UK distributor IM Group is expecting the availability of Subaru’s new boxer turbodiesel engine to double UK Subaru sales from 7,000 units in 2007 to about 15,000 cars annually by 2010. It’s target for 2008 is 8,500 units.

The first oil burning Subarus to arrive on UK shores is the Legacy and the Outback, and this will be followed by diesel version of the Subaru Forester in September 2008, and the Subaru Impreza before the year ends.

While doubling sales by 2010 sounds impressive, IM Group says this is about as far as Subaru can go in the UK with its current model line-up, with no higher sales expected unless Subaru expands its model line-up into other segments.

Related Posts:
Subaru turbodiesel boxer to make debut at Geneva 2008
Subaru turbodiesel to debut in Legacy and Outback
Subaru turbodiesel boxer produces 110kW (147 horsepower)

Oil burner versions of the Subaru Legacy and the Subaru Outback will be unveiled at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show, and it will feature Subaru’s new turbodiesel boxer, which has so far been displayed as an engine with specifications released.

The aluminium alloy inline-4 boxer common rail turbodiesel puts out 150 PS at 3,600rpm and 350Nm of torque at 1,800rpm, with relatively lag-free operation thanks to a Variable nozzle turbocharger (what other manufacturers call VGT or VTG). Installed in the Subaru Legacy, it produces 148 g/km of CO2 emissions.

The new turbodiesel boxer is one of the smoothest diesels around thanks to the horizontally opposed design, as the right and left pistons negate each other’s inertia. In the Legacy and the Outback, it is matched with a new electric power steering system and a symmetrical all-wheel drive system.

The all new Subaru Forester was launched recently in Japan, in its third generation since it was first launched in 1997. There are three variants offered in Japan, the 2.0X, the 2.0XS and the 2.0XT, ranging from basic, midrange to premium. The 2.0XT model also has better off-road capability, with a 225mm ground clearance compared to the 2.0X and the 2.0XS’s 215mm clearance.

The Subaru Forester uses a double-wishbone rear suspension and the usually strut-tyep front suspension. The new Forester uses an advanced form of Subarus proprietary Ring-Shaped Reinforcement Frame Body Structure. Through streamlined body construction and the extensive use of high-tensile steel, including 590 MPa–level steel for key structural body frames, the new model achieves higher body rigidity, improved straight-line driving stability, and riding comfort. Despite its larger body and platform, compared to the predecessor, the vehicle weight increases only minimally.

The 2.0X and 2.0XS uses a 2.0 liter normally aspirated DOHC boxer engine putting out 148 PS and 191Nm. The engine also has AVCS, or active valve control system, essentially a continuously variable valve timing system. This improves low to mid-range torque. The 2.0XT uses a 2.0 liter turbocharged boxer engine, putting out 230 PS and 319Nm. It uses a resin-based intake manifold which ha smooth inner walls which are less resistant to the intake flow. The weight is also reduced by 30% compared to the earlier manifold.

The manual and auto transmissions use different AWD systems. The automatic models get an Active Torque Split AWD, while the manual models use a centre differential AWD system with viscous LSD (limited slip differential). All models come standard with Vehicle Dynamics Control (VDC), a form of stability control.

More photos after the jump.

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7Tune has got a hold of the latest Best Car magazine and the Japanese magazine has some juicy details on the upcoming spiritual successor to the iconic Toyota AE86, set to be positioned as a very fun car on a budget and one of the few new “soulful” cars that come from the Japanese marque.

Best Car reports that test mules have been spotted being tested and sources have informed that these mules are built on a shortened Subaru Legacy chassis. This is only temporary apparently - subsequent test mules and the final product will use a shortened version of the latest Subaru Impreza chassis. This chassis is built for all-wheel drive so it should be easily adapted to rear wheel drive.

The test mule uses the normally aspirated 2.0 liter boxer engine from the Impreza and has had it’s all-wheel drive drivetrain’s front driveshafts removed to convert it to rear wheel drive. The final product is expected to use Subaru’s 1.5 liter boxer engine, a DOHC motor which puts out 110 horsepower at 6,400rpm and 143Nm of torque at 3,200rpm. This is supposed to push along a car that weighs 1,100kg. Won’t exactly be scorching but enough to feel zippy.

Source: 7Tune

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Subaru’s new turbodiesel boxer was displayed at the 2007 Frankfurt International Motor Show, so let’s have a look at some specifications. The new engine is the world’s first horizontally-opposed diesel, or boxer engine as it’s more commonly referred to.

We finally have some stats on the engine although it’s still very vague at the moment. The engine is 2.0 liter in size and puts out 147 horsepower - quoted as 110kW, incidentally the same amount as it’s 2.0 liter normally aspirated petrol sibling - and 350Nm of torque. CO2 emissions level is rated at 150g/km.

Subaru’s Executive Vice President Mat Nagato says the new turbodiesel engine will make it’s production car debut in the beginning of 2008. Let’s hope more stats on the engine will be revealed at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show. We still don’t have any idea of how the torque curve of the engine looks like.

Watch a video of the new turbodiesel boxer engine after the jump.

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The Daihatsu Boon, the Toyota Passo and the Perodua Myvi triplets have a new sibling now in the form of the Subaru Justy. This is expected since Toyota has some stakeholding in Subaru now. The new Subaru Justy was unveiled at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show and is positioned as an entry-level model in Subaru’s line-up.

The Subaru Justy is only available with a 3-cylinder 1.0 liter DOHC engine making 68 horsepower at 6,000rpm and 94Nm of torque at 3,600rpm, slightly higher than what we get in the 1 liter version of our Myvi - 57hp at 6,000rpm and 88Nm at 3,600rpm. This is because the Justy uses the 1KR-FE 1.0 liter engine from the Passo, Boon and Aygo instead of our Myvi’s EJ-VE. This engine is mated to a 5-speed manual transmission with no automatic option currently.

Two trim levels are available - the “sporty” 1.0S and the basic 1.0E, which to me actually look very similiar other than the wheels put on the car. The 1.0S gets 14 inch aluminium alloy wheels with 175/65/R14 tyres while the 1.0E gets 13 inch steel wheels with full wheel caps wrapped with 155/80R13 tyres.

On the inside, the 1.0S gets more airbags then the 1.0E - 6 versus 4, with the additional 2 being curtain airbags for the front and rear on both sides. Other 1.0S exclusive options are a chrome accented gear knob and a manual seat lifter for the driver’s seat. Safety features include usual ABS and EBD for both models.

Check out more photos after the jump.

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