Amidst the global economic decline, two more Japanese manufacturers have pulled out of major motorsport programmes following Honda’s F1 withdrawal earlier this month; Suzuki and Subaru have announced that they would no longer compete for the World Rally Championship after the ’08 season.
After its debut season, the Suzuki World Rally Team has called it quits citing weakening auto sales as an indication of a long-term downward spiral, and will now focus on cutting costs to ensure the company’s survival in the tough economic climate.
“To secure its own business environment for tomorrow, the organization reviews every aspect of the operations and decided to focus on the core business functions such as the manufacturing system, environment technologies, and development of new-generation powertrains” As a result, Suzuki has suspended WRC activities from 2009.
Suzuki first participated in the Junior World Rally Championship in 2002 with the Ignis Super 1600 and when on to win two driver championships with Swede Per-Gunnar Andersson. Towards the end of 2007, WRC-prepped Swifts competed in two rounds, and for the 2008 season, it was announced that piloting the new SX4 WRCs alongside Andersson and co-driver Jonas Andersson were WRC veterans Toni Gardemeister and co-driver Tomi Tuominen. The first event of ’08 saw Andersson make the top eight at Monte Carlo, while Gardemeister did one better on the covered roads of Sweden during the following round.
Despite problems with reliability mid-season, both SX4s finished in the top eight at New Zealand, followed by fifth place finishes in Japan and the season finale in Wales. Although the works effort is in the bag for now, Suzuki will continue to support customers who are participating in the JWRC with Swift Super 1600 machines, and local motor sport such as Swift Cup in Europe and the rest of the world.
That might not have been such a blow to WRC had it not been for Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI), the maker of Subaru automobiles, announcing yesterday that it would also withdraw from WRC at the end of 2008.
The Subaru World Rally Team was run in partnership with Prodrive, a UK-based motorsports and automotive engineering group, over the past 19 years in a bid to enhance brand awareness by demonstrating the durability, safety and comfort of Subaru vehicles no matter the weather or road conditions.
Utilising horizontally-opposed engines and Symmetrical four-wheel drive as its core technologies, Subaru has proven its mettle during two decades of world rallying by clinching six WRC championships since the team’s inception in 1989 – three drivers championships and three manufacturers championships. Not to mention that two of the greatest drivers in the history of the sport, Colin McRae and Richard Burns, both earned their first (and only) WRC championships behind the wheel of the blue-liveried machines.
“We would like to express our sincere appreciation for our fans’ strong and loyal support worldwide. They will remain an invaluable treasure for us,” said Subaru President and CEO, Ikuo Mori.
Initial performances indicated that Suzuki could have become a future front-runner in the WRC, and the loss of Subaru means that only two manufacturers will be vying for the title in 2009 – Ford and Citroën.