for those of you interested in the industry.... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB112850275576560454.html?mod=home_whats_news_us maybe we'll see a Supra-ru :rofl:
Another article, not requiring subscription: http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=155374 http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/oct2005/nf2005105_5508_db039.htm Summary: GM is selling it's shares of Fuji Heavy Industries, thus: "Fuji Heavy said it would end a joint-development project with GM's Saab brand" Toyota is buying 8.7% of subaru, and will use some of their technologies in their cars (mentioned hybrid stuff) -- Brian
Yeah great bring in one of the companies that killed off its sports cars and get rid of the company that in my opinion is responsibe for one of the greatest production cars of all time. Matt
oops, i didn't see this thread when i posted mine. All in all, it's a good event. Fuji is getting bigger out the deal.
here's the article: GM to Sell Its 20% Stake In Fuji Heavy Industries Toyota Will Buy an 8.7% Holding In Maker of Subaru Sport Wagons By JATHON SAPSFORD Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL October 5, 2005 4:02 p.m. TOKYO — General Motors Corp. rocked the Japanese auto industry by announcing it would sell its entire 20% stake in Fuji Heavy Industries Inc., driving the maker of Subaru sport wagons into the hands of GM's archrival, Toyota Motor Corp. Toyota said it would pay roughly $315 million for an 8.7% stake of Fuji, saying that antitrust concerns – Toyota already has 45% of the Japanese car market – discouraged it from buying more of Fuji. But the move underscored the diverging fortunes of GM, which is struggling financially and losing market share, and Toyota, which is increasing both share and profits in the vast majority of auto markets around the world. Fuji Heavy President Kyoji Takenaka told reporters Wednesday that GM and Fuji Heavy have agreed to dissolve their relationship, and would rethink key joint projects. Fuji Heavy will continue to partner with GM in producing the Saab 9-2, a sport wagon, but Mr. Takenaka said the two will cancel plans announced last year to develop a Saab wagon-sport utility crossover vehicle, which will cause Fuji to take a charge of roughly $50 million during the current fiscal year related to the project. "The two companies [GM and Fuji] concluded that mutually beneficial large projects are unlikely in the future," Fuji's Mr. Takanaka said. But Mr. Takenaka, sitting next to Toyota Executive Vice President Mitsuo Kinoshita, was quick to stress Fuji would now sit down with new partner Toyota to explore possibilities for a new range of areas for cooperation. Toyota's role in the troubles at GM, which is losing money in its core auto operations, has been the subject of much speculation ever since Toyota Chairman Hiroshi Okuda told reporters this spring that the Japanese car industry should give the struggling car makers of Detroit some "breathing room" lest it spark a political backlash, and at one point even suggesting raising prices, an idea Toyota immediately dropped after objections from its sales team in the U.S. Japan's media has been rife with speculation over how else Toyota might ease the pressure on Detroit. Speaking in Tokyo at a surprise news conference Wednesday evening, Toyota's Mr. Kinoshita denied that the transaction between Toyota, Fuji and GM was in any way designed to ease some of the relentless competitive pressure on GM from Japanese car makers. "This has absolutely nothing to do with providing [GM] with assistance," Mr. Kinoshita said. But the move will undeniably provide GM with financial leeway. GM suggested in a statement that the sale of the 157 million shares in Fuji Heavy would yield between $700 million and $800 million. Toyota will buy 68 million of those shares, while Fuji's treasury department will buy up another 90 million shares from the open market, offsetting the impact of GM's plan to sell its remaining stake, 89 million shares, in the market.
Yeah, but other than the Corvette GM is flailing around like a headless chicken when it comes to making business decisions. BTW, they didn't stop making the Supra until 2002. Rumor has it there'll be a new one out in a year or so. They still have the Celica GT-S which is IMO not a poor performer in its category. They make a compact truck with a 236hp/266lb-ft engine and a six-speed manual transmission... I think they have their act together.
What i've heard is the new supra is about a 50 grand entry with 500 HP... but i might be wrong...horribly wrong Where Saabarus actually good driving cars?
The Saabarus were just WRXs with some niceties added... from what I gather they drove nicer, and performed about as well.
Not only are they getting rid of the Celica (replaced by the tC), but they made a vow to make all their cars hybrids by 2015 or something like that. Good company booring cars. Bring back the Supra! Please! Twin turbo 6 AND automatic. I was born 7 years too late.
well imo gm makes lowsy sports cars now days minus the Corvette. I mean look at the SSR horrible performance, horrible car. The GTO IMO is a POS as well. High performance or not its not worth its money.i think they should do away with pontiac all together and just focus on chevy and gmc. Toyota has its priorities on hybrid yes, but they are putting in a hadn with tuners. Scion is a good entry level car. I just think toyota will make quality over looks thats all.
You can not possibly be serious. The Celica is not a sports car in anyway shape or form and a 5000+lb truck with under 300hp sucks too.
You guys are killing me, the SSR is not a sports car its a marketing gimick to get baby boomers with too much money to buy another play toy. The GTO is an awesome car its not a sports car but it never was intended to be. What about the caddilac CTS-V its a great car, GM may be having troubles but atleast they still know how to produce a fast car.
All the V caddys are rockets! and the GTO is an Austrailian car that GM has stock in. It's the Holden Monaro, http://www.holden.com.au/www-holden/action/modeloverview?modelid=12001 Pontiac has no RW car platforms. They deadened it for the U.S. market so 55 year old men didn't send it over cliffs like the Viper does! :keke:
The Celica seems to do quite well on the AutoX course, and it handles nicely with a 6-speed manual and decent power for its size. No, it's not a Corvette, but neither is the WRX... And the Tacoma X-Runner is 3700lbs, not quite 5000....
I like my parents supercharged GTP......if anyone watches street tuner challenge, the cobalt smoked a 800hp Skyline and a souped up Jetta on a road course!!!....not big GM fan but i just thought that was crazy...saw it on Speed Channel last night....also saw the Atl Nopi's on TunerVision...no suby love...i thought it'd be cool if they showed our club or any suby there atleast in the background or something but no dice :wtc:
Man, nobody loves the Scoobies... everybody knows the Corvette and the Camaro and whatnot, but you tell them you have a WRX and it's all blank stares.
I had a chick laugh at me the other day when i told her what i drove..she didn't get a chance to actually see it, but it does sucks sometimes...i guess it's kind of an underground thing then right?
I appologize for the late reply. Andrew's saabaru is a fun, enjoyable car. Its interesting to hear that GM is trying to pull itself and revamp business. Its funny though, did you realize no american car company pulls a profit? They're all government subsidized to keep prices low and quantity high. And, I do agree 100%. Shares owned by Subuaru far outweigh those of GM. GM is just the master of selling the same car a few times over. Toyota is quality.
hmmm,toyota has bubkiss now adays, mitsu....well they have the evo and are going under so yeah, gm has the vet but its ugly as hell now,gto in a joke...v caddy is n a diff class,high end sports cars so it dosnt count,mustang sucks unless built by outside help{salleen ,cobra,}and still suck,nissan has some really good one's...im a big fan of nissan,se-r 350 ect,honda...enough said.rsx suck balls nsx,diff class,subaru.....now thats a car company,i mean awd turbo wagons and four doors,,,f en comonand they have performance for every pocket book.rs ,wrx ,sti .audi had great cars to,but not that everyone can get. oh and its my b day {10/9/05} so know one bitch about the spelling and shitty grammer or anything else,ha.....hahmmhahmmha
GTO is a joke? Sure, it's an ugly car, but there's no denying it has some serious performance... And don't forget the S2000 while you're talking Hondas. It's a very fine handling and overall performing vehicle.
What is bubkis The evo is a great car, and they arent going under. The vette is ugly, are you kidding me. You may not like the styling but the performance is awesome The CTS-V is an awesome car and we werent comparing it to subaru we were talking about the overall lineup of GM and toyota. This may be the single most retarded statement in your entire post. Dollar for dollar there is not a better platform for high performance on the road. 10 and 11 second time slips are only a bottle away. Dont even start with the turning bullshit because the little pony car will take down most of the cars on the road today. Really Why ? Yeah its an allright car, it just cost entirely too much money to make it go fast Hondas ok agreed We werent breaking it down into classes you have made this into an entirely diffrent conversation Your kidding right, they still cant get a grasp on the mainstream car buyer Audi = over priced VW I dont care if its christmas there is no reason to post up bullshit like this.
i agree with moose... this thread is open for discussion, not arguments... lets keep personal attacks out of this and anything on the boards
hell i'm waiting for buick to step back in to the scene. there are rumors, although maybe false, they are trying to bring back the GNX. I had the privledge to see twoo of them last week. one had 33,000 miles and the other had 13,000. the guys also owns a big block late model vette and a TWIN TURBO CUDA! As far as the GTO goes i have heard a couple bad stories about them, but what do you expect with a brandnew concept. I think they rushed the idea to much, but what car cannot impove in some way? Alex: BTW, i guess your brother has a collectors car now.
I'm just gonna sit back and see how this venture pans out. Sure GM owned a good percentage of FHI but they really didnt seem to influence Subaru at all, what makes you think that Toyota will? FHI is a large corporation and they build all sorts of stuff, not just Subarus.
there's nothing controlling about toyotas investment(only 8% of shares in circ.)... FHI has the majority still(actually own more now, they bought a lot of GM's stake) so toyota has no rights to step in and say anything. all interaction with FHI and Toyota is strictly voluntary. they just have toyota's money... :0