Subaru parent FHI kills industrial business to focus on automotive

We had our first hint when the company changed its name earlier this year, but now it’s official: Subaru’s parent company Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) has announced it will kill off its industrial products business in order to focus on the Japanese car brand.

The company’s industrial arm sells a wide range of products including general-purpose engines for construction, industrial and agricultural equipment, along with high-performance engines for snowmobiles, and all-terrain vehicles. It also produces finished goods such as generators and pumps.

FHI says the move is a part of its “Prominence 2020” mid-term management vision announced in May 2014, which had “enhancing the Subaru brand” as one of its primary objectives.

The termination of the industrial parts business will allow FHI to concentrate management resources in Subaru.

Production and sales of industrial products currently sold by the company will wrap up on 30 September 2017, ending a 65-year run for the business.

Subaru continues to rank in the top-10 for sales in Australia, shifting 4140 units in October and 38,969 year-to-date, which is up 0.7 per cent on October 2015 and 7.9 per cent for the year.

With the new Impreza hatch and sedan arriving Down Under in December, Subaru could be be climbing back up the sales charts in the years to come, and FHI’s shift in focus should help to bolster that even more.

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