RSS Report: No longer o-kei, Subaru steps away from minicar production

[Ringo64]

Filed under: Budget, Japan, Plants/Manufacturing, Hatchback

Subaru is walking away from minicars. According to Just-Auto.com, parent company Fuji Heavy Industries is looking to concentrate its efforts small and mid-sized vehicles moving forward. While Japan still enjoys a thriving kei car market, the vehicles aren't as profitable as their larger counterparts and require the same level of engineering commitment. Fuji will focus on the company's drivetrain development as well as improving vehicle safety with the cash it saves from creating new minicars.

Nissan and Mitsubishi, meanwhile, have committed to a joint venture to create a new kei car that should hit the market sometime soon, and Honda routinely uses its minicar segment as a testbed for large vehicle technologies.

Will the pint-sized Subaru models be missed? Our heart strings are still ringing over the loss of the Justy here in the states.

No longer o-kei, Subaru steps away from minicar production originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6>Permalink | Email this | Comments

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[[ChaosweaveR]]

I'm surprised these kei-cars aren't being considered here with the jacked up fuel prices. These would sell well, +45mpgs...these things sip fuel better than the hybrids we get.