WRC

[smythie]

Porsche and Audi are interesting departures. Both of these departures are probably the work of the financially savvy bods running Porsche (remember Porsche owns a very large, if not controlling, interest in Audi's parent company VW). Porsche knows that they still have racing exposure with the GT3 cup series' around the world, not to mention the various road rallies that people like Richards and co enter. They also probably reckon that Audi doesn't really need the racing exposure for their brand in the 'states

The rest aren't particularly surprising when you consider that they were all at the bottom of their respective categories, or in the AMA case looking for an excuse to abandon the series.
Honda has been the worst of the manufacturer teams in F1 for the last couple of years and it is easy to see the Japanese getting the shits with battling for 15th position every race.
Suzuki are only new to the Group A class in WRC and so for a small company it was easy to pull out and write off that expenditure
Subaru let's face it haven't really been all that competitive in the last 5 years in Group A. They were improving a little but needed a BIG step to consistently challenge for 1st or 2nd place outright without relying on crashes or retirements

The writing has been on the wall for a while now. The DTM has seen in the past few years the departure of everyone except Audi and M-B. The BTCC has been whittling down from the heyday of the late 90's when everyone was seemingly getting involved. CART gone, IRL's woes with manufacturer support, constant threat of manufacturers pulling out of F1, MotoGP grids only at 18 or 19 with Honda, Ducati and Yamaha fielding satellite teams, Subaru pulling out of the ARC, the list goes on...

Still sad nonetheless

[AndySTi]

Just found out details of an interview held with FHI over their decision:
http://www.drivingsports.com/site/2008/ ... -with-fhi/

Q When did you decide to withdraw?
A The official decision was made in a meeting yesterday evening.

Q When did you start considering the withdrawal?
A To withdraw in this season, the specific examination started about a week ago.

Q When did you tell Prodrive (Mr.David Richards)?
A Last night, we told him about today’s announcement over the phone.

Q When did you tell the drivers?
A Last night, we met with the two and told them in person.

Q When did you tell FIA?
A We informed them yesterday.

Q Sponsors and suppliers?
A We will tell them after this conference.

Q What is the main reason of the withdrawal? Concern of worsening of the business performance?
A There are many elements involved rather than just one. However, if you insist, we have achieved our initial objective to improve the brand recognition. And also given the unprecedented economic situation deterioration, it was necessary to review our investments. These are the main reasons.

S WRC has an image of being destructive to the environment. Is the conflict with the eco countermeasure also the reason?
A Rally is a motorsport with a long history and it is also one of the automobile cultures. It is of course very important to give the most consideration to the environment, however it is possible to balance the two. Therefore, the mentioned point is not a direct reason.

Q Does the WRC regulation change have an impact on the withdrawal?
A It has nothing to do with this.

S What is the reaction of the FHI internally?
A We are sharing the information after the conference.

Q It is stated as “termination of the activity”. Does this mean “pause” or “withdraw”? (only valid in Japanese)
A The possibility of the Subaru car aligned in the top category of WRC in the future is not zero, however for this moment, this is not on the assumption of the comeback.

S Don’t you have a desire to continue?
A If we can be allowed, we wanted to continue especially for the fans, however taking numerous conditions into the account, we have made the decision based of the business management.

Q The significance of motorsport participation that Subaru thinks, has it changed?
A There are two important significant and they have not changed. One is to appeal the (nice) drivability of the Subaru cars and improve the brand image and its sales. The other is to use the feedback and know-how’s from the various motorsports into the mass productions.

Q How many employees are working for WRC within STI?
A Including the ones working concurrently, we have about 20 people.

S Is there going to be change in the personnel?
A Nothing has been decided.

Q Who is Prodrive?
A It’s a racing team management (operation) company based in England. Besides SWRT, they are involved in other racing activities and they also produce and sell their original automobile parts and racing cars.

Q What will happen to Prodrive?
A Prodrive has wide-ranging motorsport activities besides WRC and we are not in the position to make comment on going forward.

Q There is a rumor that the relationship between Subaru and Prodrive is not going well? Does this have anything to do with this?
A There is not such thing and our decision has nothing to do with it. Although there will be no WRC works activity, we will still have Group N business etc. from now on.

Q Are you cancelling the contract with Prodrive? Has Prodrive agreed?
A The contract was until the end of 2009, therefore, we are canceling it. The process and discussion will start from now.

Q What will happen to STI?
A STI will continue their motorsport activities and cars/parts development. They will continue to work to improve the value of the Subaru brand and the satisfaction of the Subaru users.
Q How will you deal with the WRX STI and other STI special edition cars?
A STI’s image is not limited to WRC. They will continue to provide the products that meet the STI brand value such as an ultimate road sportcars and sportpars.

Q What are the examples of the feedback you had from WRC to the road cars?
A It’s very difficult to explain the know-how’s, however the setting of the suspension is one of the examples.

Q What did you gain by participating in WRC?
A It is the feedback on numerous know-how’s for the technical development. And the improvement of the Subaru brand. Winning the three manufacturer’s titles and three driver’s titles has constructed the image of the Subaru’s drivability and it is contributing in the expansion of the worldwide sales of the Subaru cars.

Q What is the damage from this withdrawal?
A More than anything, we will betray the expectation of the fans who have been supporting us.

Q There are many users who purchased Subaru based on the WRC image. It goes against the “customer comes firsts”?
A We are expecting to hear many comments and requests from our customers. We will consider them seriously and we will work hard to gain the understanding that this is a decision for the Subaru future.

Q What is the annual budget to compete in WRC?
A We can not disclose the exact amount, but it is several billion yen. (no further comments)

Q Has the payment for the 2009 entry been made to FIA?
A No, it hasn’t been paid.

Q Any regret?
A We have been away from the winning for about three years. It would have been nice if we could have won a little more.

Q Do you have the contract with two of the drivers for the next season?
A Yes, we will need to proceed with the cancellation of the contract.

Q So, the drivers have been told. What was their reaction?
A We heard that they both understood our intention.

Q What impact do you think this will have on the sales?
A We do not expect a big direct impact, however considering the support and feelings of the fans, there might be some sort of effect.

Q Isn’t this going to have a negative impact on Rally Japan?
A You must pardon us as we are not in the position to answer that.

Q What will happen to the dealer mechanic team “Subaru Rally Team Japan”?
A SRTJ is a Group N activity and will not be affected by this decision. Regarding the next season’s activities, nothing has been decided.

Direct and interesting interview if you ask me Soz about long post.

[smythie]

I got the impression at a couple of points that the interviewee was getting annoyed with the line of questioning. Still, some reasonably frank comments

Thanks for the post

[SMI77]

AndySTi, thank you for the further info, no matter how short/long it was.

[SMI77]

I had already booked holidays at work for the 2009 WRC event in Northern NSW. I was an avid fan of WRC, particularly of the SWRT.
No SWRT, I don't think I will bother with the event.

I'd like to think our ride is an indirect result of the Subaru participation in WRC. I sincerely hope FHI had no influence from Toyota in the decision.

Extremely glad now we bought an MY08

[Ric]

Jaguar are in trouble now too!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/pers ... ayers.html

(although it's really an Indian owned company these days...)

[smythie]

argh, political and financial commentators' columns make my head hurt. That guy in particular