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Toyota plans to increase its stake in Subaru from 17% to 20%, a move that could cost more than 70 billion yen ($650 million) based on the current market capitalization of Subaru's shares, according to Reuters. In addition, Subaru will also increase its shareholding in Toyota in the same way, driving the development of both sides at one time and better developing new automotive technology.

Last month, Toyota and Suzuki said they would take small stakes in each other. Toyota will pay 96 billion yen ($908 million) for a stake in Suzuki, while Suzuki will buy a 48 billion yen minority stake in Toyota by buying shares on the open market.

The cooperation between Toyota and Subaru dates back to 2005. GM broke off its partnership with Subaru in 2005 and sold a majority stake in the company to Toyota, and capital cooperation has been going on ever since. In 2008, Toyota made additional investment to increase its stake in Subaru to 16.8%. Subaru's profits are stable, but it has fallen into public opinion after the fuel economy scandal broke out in 2017, and consumer trust has not yet been restored.

For Subaru, progress in electrification has been slow since it suffered a crisis of confidence in 2017 due to improper quality inspection, and this time it has chosen to strengthen its partnership with Toyota in order to survive the competition. With the help of Toyota, we can not only spread the investment risk but also accelerate the speed of research and development.

Since then, Subaru has made slow progress in electrification, when Toyota provided Subaru with cost-cutting technology and industrial methods for continuous improvement, and Subaru produced cars for Toyota, including Camry and 86 sports cars. Subaru also used Toyota's technology to develop plug-in hybrids.

In June, Toyota and Subaru announced that they would jointly develop an electric version of SUV, which will be released under their own brands in the first half of 2020. Obviously, both sides are better investment and R & D in the future, further strengthening the capital relationship through mutual shareholding.

According to statistics, Subaru sold 474000 vehicles in the United States from January to August, up 6.12% from a year earlier. In August, Subaru handed over a report card of 70039 vehicles in the United States, the best monthly sales in Subaru's history. So far, Subaru has achieved 93 consecutive month-by-month growth in the US market.

At present, Subaru has not achieved domestic production in the Chinese market, and the sales channels are mainly large groups, which are also in the process of restructuring and face the risk of delisting, which greatly affects Subaru's sales in China. After that, independent sales may be an option for Subaru.

At a time when the automobile market continues to decline, the automobile industry invests heavily in the future, and the choice of technical route is also full of challenges.

In August, Toyota and Suzuki said they would take small stakes in each other. Toyota will pay 96 billion yen ($908 million) for a stake in Suzuki, while Suzuki will buy a 48 billion yen minority stake in Toyota by buying shares on the open market.

At present, in the environment of great changes in the automobile industry, the alliance and cooperation between automobile enterprises is particularly important. Major automobile manufacturers need to chase scale, reduce management costs and promote development at the same time.

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