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Reader Comments for
Subscribe to this threadSubaru to stop making Kei Cars
(Page 1 of 1)
Temple @ Apr 16th 2008 11:03AM
Its expected. Nissan doesn't build their own Kei-cars even, they are built by Suzuki. And Toyota's kei-car division is already heavily allied with Daihatsu (which Toyota owns 52% of).
The thing is the Kei-car market may be the largest automotive market in Japan taking more then half of the countries sales, however, its an incredibly low profit margin business (new cars can be bought for around ~$10k).
Also, being that all cars are the same dimension (as regulated to get kei-car classification) and use the same type of engine design (660cc inline three cylinder with or without forced injection) it makes little sense for manufactures to have bespoke designs between brands.
This is absolutely the right choice for Subaru since now they can focus on their other platforms.