GM sell Subaru to Toyota

Same goes for HP, Intel, Microsoft & Halliburton. But, with the inbreeding that goes on at the top, it's just a wishful dream.

GM makes some fairly decent vehicles. They just don't listen to their customers worth a hoot though.

Toyota increasing it's stake in Subaru makes sense as they already have a business relationship and their vehicle really do not compete very much. Subaru has staked out a nice little niche with their boxer engines and four wheel drive. The problem for GM is that nothing Subaru does integrates well into a GM platform strategy. The marriage never made sense.

Another factor is that GM and Toyota has a long relationship which continues with the Nummi plant in California and it's building of the Pontiac Vibe.

I'm sure GM would sell Saab and Ford would sell Jaguar IF there were any buyers willing to put serious money on the table for those brands. But who would?

Unfortunately Saab has become a don't care brand on the world stage. If Saab closed up shop tomorrow the people directly involved would loose financially and perhaps emotionally, but it would make ZERO difference to the marketplace. The same is true for Mitsubishi, Isuzu, Jaguar, Land Rover, Kia and others. Subaru has an interesting niche, but also in the end is not a company of great consequence.

Ten years from now I predict that GM will have gone through at least one pass at Chapter 11 bankrupcy and will be down to the Chevy and Cadillac brand names. Ford is likely to follow the same path and in so doing will finally wipe out the family control of the company as well as skinnying down to the Ford and Volvo brands. Lincoln, Mercury, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Land Rover have net negative remaining value.

John

Tell that to the World Rally racers!!!

That would be something that Toyota could offer, GM couldn't!

Fake Subarus! That wouldn't go anywhere here.

IMO Toyota doesn't hire stylists. The good news for me is I rate function ahead of style. The bad news is I just looked at the Toyota Camry and it looks very dull alongside my 10 yr old Chrysler Concord.

Toyota is changing. See the new Avalon.

Ya know, I agree with you. Their cars have a reputation for function and reliability, but they seem to lag behind the other japanese co.s for style by years! I guess the good side of that is they also don't make styling blunders like Subaru does occasionally! lol!

Carl

In the 2005 Consumers Reports, Annual Auto Issue (April 2005, Page 16) states: "The Most reliable 2004 brand overall is now Subaru, which averages 8 problems per 100. Honda, long a reliablity leader, averaged 9 problems per

Further, on page 17...

"Subaru showed significant improvement. This year, with 8 problems per 100 cars, it had the best reliability record of any 2004 make. It suffered last year because of the poor showing of it's Baja truck."

IMO, the poor showing of the Baja truck was likely a blip. If you buy a Japan build Subaru (ie Forester) your likely to have even better reliability overall.

Subaru could learn a lot about engine design from Toyota, currently Toyota is leading edge with variable valve timing. Their Avalon V6 gets amazing fuel mileage from a very powrrfull engine. As for the Subaru engine smoothness, I would expect that from a flat horizontally opposed engine. My VWs were very smooth engines at high revs for the day.

You have a good point. Some of the stylist in California just want to make a "different" styling point. However the Japanese stylists are not in my good book. The current Subaru Outback and Forester look nicely styled to me. The Tribeca, ugh, but what OK for the box it is.

Right on. GM was once my favorite USA car company, but I haven't bought a GM product since '71.

None do, but GM has some terribly our of date technology out there. My recent experience with the 80s transmission in the '05 Impalla really surprised me. The criticism of GM selling outdated technology is valid here.

A lot of it is very subjective. I like the late-90's early-00's Outback. Nice, functional, rounded but not too much.

I also am a big fan of the WRX sedan. Nice low profile family car look with great performance. No sense attracting more attention than necessary.

I can't stand the "hamstermobile" look.