Subaru Tuners of Maine

Apr 11, 2008 20:46
Keisuke Ogawa, Nikkei Automotive Technology
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FHI President Ikuo Mori, Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe and Daihatsu President Teruyuki Minoura, announcing the strengthening of their partnership
Toyota Motor Corp, Daihatsu Motor Co Ltd and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd (FHI) have announced the enhancement of their collaboration related to development and production. FHI will jointly develop a compact sports car with Toyota, while preparing to withdraw from the production of k-cars and focus management resources on its core businesses including horizontally-opposed engines.

The compact FR (front engine, rear drive) sports car that Toyota and FHI will co-develop is slated for market debut at the end of 2011. Although details have not been determined, the sports car will employ FHI’s horizontally-opposed engine.

FHI will manufacture the car at a new plant to be built at FHI’s Gumma Manufacturing Division and supply it to Toyota. The sports car will be marketed under the brand names of both companies, they said.

Meanwhile, Daihatsu will begin OEM (original equipment manufacturing) supply of minivehicles to FHI from the second half of 2009, gradually expanding the range of target models. Both the automobiles produced by FHI and the OEM vehicles will co-exist for the next few years, but “We will eventually replace all of our k-cars with OEM products supplied by Daihatsu,” FHI President Ikuo Mori said.

Daihatsu will also start supplying the “Coo” compact car for the local market to FHI on an OEM basis from October 2008, projecting an annual supply volume of 6,000 units. Targeting the end of 2010, Toyota will commence OEM supply of compact cars to FHI as well, so that FHI can supplement its product lineup.

Toyota will also increase its stake in the shares of FHI. FHI is planning to transfer 61 million FHI shares owned by FHI to Toyota. Toyota will hold 16.5% of all outstanding FHI shares when the transfer takes place following the approval of Japan’s Fair Trade Commission.

© Boris Rudzinski aka The DirtModJunkie Staff Photographer and Team Administrator DirtTrackDigest.com

It was all smiles among Subaru Rally Team USA, as their team of Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino (Subaru Impreza WRX STI) took first overall at Rally New York USA. At the end of nearly 400 miles of motoring, and 100 miles of high-speed special stages, the two Californians were over three minutes ahead of the NC Rally Team car of Otis Dimiters/Dominik Jozwiak (Subaru Impreza WRX). Martin Donnelly/Stephen Duffy (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8 ) completed the top three.

For Block/Gelsomino, it was a smooth performance — the only glitch was a flat tire in the middle of the day today. On the other hand, the car of Dimiters/Jozwiak suffered from various minor problems, ranging from a loose intercooler hose to a lack of fuel pressure.

Several of the top competitors were sidelined by mechanical problems, particularly on the first day. Seamus Burke/Ole Holter (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) went out when the car’s transmission stuck in fifth gear. Celsus Donnelly/Barry Smith (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8 ) suffered a broken front differential. Enda McCormack/Bernard Farrell (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6) broke the rear output shaft in their car’s four-wheel-drive system.

In the two-wheel-drive category, Bruce Davis/Jimmy Brandt (Dodge Neon SRT-4) were clear winners. Hampton Bridwell/Josh Katinger (Ford Focus SVT) were second, over three minutes back, and were the best-placed Production 2WD entry. Mark Lawrence/Robert Maciejski (Volkswagen Golf) had been expected to be among the top finishers, but withdrew after an off-course excursion today.

The route of this opening event of the 2008 United States Rally Championship was entirely paved; rare for a performance-type auto rally in North America. The roads were wet on the first day from moderate rains, but drying on the second day due to partly-sunny skies.

STM’er Pedro working hard to help get a 4th in 2wd

Results:

1. Ken Block/Alex Gelsomino (Subaru Impreza WRX STI, Open AWD class)
2. Otis Dimiters/ Dominik Jozwiak (Subaru Impreza WRX, Open AWD)
3. Martin Donnelly/Stephen Duffy (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8, Open AWD)
4. Francisco Pereira/A. Vokes (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, Open AWD)
5. Maciej Przybysz /Damien Treanor (2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, Open AWD)
6. Scott Wilburn/Constantine Mantopoulos (2003 Subaru Impreza WRX, Production AWD)
7. Bruce Davis/Jimmy Brandt (Dodge Neon SRT-4, Open 2WD)
8. Wojtek Okula/Adam Pelc (Subaru Impreza WRX, Production AWD)
9. Hampton Bridwell/Josh Katinger (Ford Focus SVT, Production 2WD)
10. Michael Cosgrove/John O’Reilly (Mitsubishi Eclipse, Production AWD)
11. Dan Brosnan/Shane McCann (Nissan Sentra, Open 2WD)
12. Thomas Greer/Robert Della Rocca (Volkswagen Golf GTI, Open 2WD)
13. Gustavo Garrido/Jeremy Neyhart (Nissan Sentra, Open 2WD)
14. Larry Duane/Eamon Sweeney (Toyota Corolla, Open 2WD)
15. Simon Wright/Kieran Wright (Ford Focus ZX3, Open 2WD)
16. Richard Spaulding/Niall Johnson (Ford Focus SVT, Production 2WD)
17. Patrick Brennan/Carrie Wilburn (Subaru Impreza WRX STI, Open AWD)
18. Javier Festa/Santiago Festa (Volkswagen Jetta, Open 2WD)
19. Paul Ferreira/Aaron Cresenti (Acura RSX, Production AWD)
20. Gerard Coffey/Dave Dooley (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8, Open AWD)
21. Michael O’Leary/John O’Leary (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4, Open AWD)
22. Steven Levesque/Kristin Chute (BMW M3, Production 2WD)
23. Enda McCormack/Bernard Farrell (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6, Open AWD)

Did not finish:

Seamus Burke / Ole Holter (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, Open AWD)
Seamus Burke / Ole Holter (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, Open AWD)
Ivor Wigham/Jeff Hagan (Mitsubishi Lancer, Production AWD)
Mark Lawrence/Robert Maciejski (Volkswagen Golf, Open 2WD)
Joseph Burke/Brian Sharkey (Acura Integra Type R)
Conor Malone/Glenna Chestnutt (Dodge Conquest, Open 2WD class)

From Specialstage.com

Subaru of America and L.L. Bean will not be renewing their marketing partnership when the current agreement expires on June 30, 2008. The decision to conclude their partnership was not due to strategic fit, but rather a thorough cost/benefit analysis of the relationship. As of July 1, 2008, Subaru of America, it’s authorized retailers, it’s independant distributers and their retailers, may no longer use the L.L. Bean trademark or logo for advertising or promotions.

The end of the partnership will also require some adjustments to the Outback and Forester Line-ups as follows;

Production and Wholesale;

Beginning with 2009MY Outback production, “Outback L.L.Bean Edition” models will be renamed “Outback 2.5i Limited”. 2008MY Outback L.L.Bean Edition models will complete the model year run which will last through April 2008.

2009MY Forester 2.5X L.L.Bean Edition models will conclude production the first week of April. Vehicles produced for the remainder of the model year will be renamed “Forester 2.5X Limited”

Subaru Gear By L.L.Bean;

L.L.Bean will remain the exclusive provider of Subaru branded apparel for sale to Subaru retailers and consumers through June 30, 2008. A new Subaru Gear program is under developement and will be the subject of a future anouncement.

Subaru team boss David Richards has hailed the ‘maturity’ of his number two driver Chris Atkinson, following last weekend’s Rally Argentina.

Atkinson eventually took the runners-up spot on the South American event, but on the second day opted to play the team game, rather than try and battle it out with his team-mate, Petter Solberg.

Atkinson slipped down to third on the opening test on Saturday morning when he was overhauled by ‘Hollywood’ and while he lost out again in SS11, something that saw the margin increased to 9.1 seconds, Chris cut it back to 7.4 seconds in SS12, before taking more time back in SS13, when he the topped the times.

Going into the repeat loop in the afternoon just 4.1 seconds separated them, but Chris mindful of the fact the Banbury-based outfit was on course for a 2-3 result, something it hasn’t managed since the Wales Rally GB back in 2003, opted not to try and fight with Petter.

In the end while he still took P2, after electrical problems sidelined the sister car on the final day, his attitude didn’t go unnoticed.

“I’m really impressed with the maturity of Chris’ decision not take any big risks and focus on scoring crucial points for the team,” confirmed Richards.

Atkinson meanwhile noted that there had been no team orders and that he had just opted to back off a bit and not take any risks to try and ensure he got to the end in Carlos Paz.

“There were not decisions made or anything. But you know that you don’t want to crash especially when you’re in a safe position,” he continued. “Petter has better experience than me on these roads and I took the decision to slow down and to be more conservative. That was my decision and at the end it didn’t affect my result.

“I sort of decided my day will come in the future. I didn’t have the best feeling; he seemed to have a better feeling than me on Saturday. That was fine with me, obviously I would have like to beat him but the most important thing was that it was a good result for the team.”

From Crash.net

Chris Atkinson believes that Subaru have definitely turned a corner following the teams form on the Rally Argentina last weekend.

Atkinson and his team-mate Petter Solberg ran strongly throughout the event and were on course for a double podium result from SS5. While Petter unfortunately retired on the final day, when he had a complete electrical failure in SS19, the Banbury-based outfit still had much to be positive about.

Indeed for Chris it was his third podium in four events and his second runners-up placing on the trot and he now moves up to third in the drivers’ championship, just three points off Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen.

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“Another podium is fantastic for us and for the team, there’s nothing that motivates the guys more than a great result at the end of all the hard work,” reflected the Aussie. “The feeling in the car was just so much more consistent this weekend and it was easier to drive so I was able to push without making any big mistakes.

“It’s clear we’ve taken some good steps forward with the car this year and it’s sort of a surprise for me to be third in the championship at the moment. We’re definitely moving in the right direction.”

Asked how the team has finally managed to turn it around after two years in the doldrums, he added that it is all just down to hard work.

“It’s all about development and getting everything working on the car. We know we had a couple of difficult years and finally we seem to have turned the corner with consistency and the performance of the car,” he explained.

“We’re still not on the pace of the leaders for sure but hopefully that’s not far away and wins are not too far away either.”

Despite his success though, Petter’s exit with just three stages to go was a big blow for the Banbury-based squad.

“It’s a real shame about Petter as he was going very well and we should have had two cars on the podium. It would have been really cool to have two Subarus up there. I feel sorry for Petter, obviously it sounds like it was out of his hands completely,” Chris concluded.

From Crash.net

The Subaru R1 is a tiny little car. A two-seater built with efficiency (and Japan) in mind. The car was never really intended to make it’s way out of the Japanese market. But now, with Smart Car reservations on the rise…Subaru might be changing its mind.

But that’s not where this story ends. Subaru has been testing an all-electric version of the R1 (called the R1e) in Japan for about a year. The Li-ion battery pack can power the car to a top speed of 65 mph for about 50 miles before a recharge is needed. This works out pretty well in Japan, especially has the battery technology used in the R1e allows for special 15 minute recharges at high-power charging stations.

At a standard outlet, the cars take about 8 hours to fully charge. And now this tiny electric car has made it’s way to the US?

Why? Well, apparently the New York Power Authority is field testing a couple of the cars. Whether to test their possible impacts on the grid, figure out if they could make good money providing those high-power charging stations, or just to see if they might be useful things to own…we’re not yet sure.

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Located right next to Grittys. Off 295 Desert road exit.

See you there!

Some pics of the auto-x this past weekend. STM’ers ripping it up!

Here it folks, with a little camo. Looks amazing!