TOKYO MOTOR SHOW: Subaru and Toyota debate who did what

The peace has finally broken over the jointly developed Japanese sports coupe - let the infighting begin...

It was amazing they both made it this far without a bad word for the other. But Subaru and Toyota have had their first public tiff since they joined forces four years ago to develop a sports coupe.

Both brands were rightly taking kudos for their respective and almost identical cars games at this week's Tokyo Motor Show – and Toyota narrowly beat Subaru by unveiling its version on Sunday ahead of the exhibition opening mid-week.

But the claims and counter claims started not long after that. Executives from both brands have chosen their words carefully, but it seems each believes they had the leading role.

The car that Toyoya calls '86' (a reference to the last time Toyota made a fun, rear-drive sports car) and Subaru calls 'BRZ' is made in a Subaru factory, has a Subaru engine, uses Subaru interior plastics, and was mostly engineered by Subaru. Even key touch-points such as the pedals and wiper stalks are Subaru's.

But Toyota says it came up with the business case for the car, overall concept and design – and it did the fuel injection system and the gearboxes, even if the gear-shifter appears to have come from a Subaru.

Even the way it steers is a joint effort: it's a Subaru steering rack with a Toyota electric assistance system.

Subaru Australia's Nick Senior told motoring.com.au: "It drives like a Subaru … and it's got huge parts of our DNA in it. We build it. We've tested it in Australia with our guys and set it up."

Subaru Australia is yet to decide if it will bring the BRZ version to market locally. The company was understood to be lukewarm on the idea until it sampled a later prototype recently. It will make an announcement just prior to Christmas.

But Toyota's chief engineer of the coupe, Tetsuya Tada, told Australian media in Tokyo overnight that the car was Toyota's idea from the start.

Speaking through an experienced and fluent translator, he told the media gathering: "Subaru was not involved in the planning of the car itself … it was Toyota's side to decide on the planning or the concept of the car.

"In many of the car companies around the world it's very difficult to find a car that was solely planned, developed, engineered and made in their own company. There's always a collaboration between other companies.

"Toyota always tries to pick whoever is best at their own area when we make or develop new cars. But in all the cases, planning and design is always done by Toyota.

"We wanted to have a car with as low centre of gravity as possible. By thinking of all our group affiliates Subaru had the right ingredients. So in this case we picked Subaru to be the collaborative partner. Subaru is part of Toyota; we own a lot of their stocks."

Toyota bought 8 per cent of Subaru in October 2005 and then increased its share of the company to more than 16 per cent in early 2008, just prior to the Global Financial Crisis. The Toyota sports car project started in January 2007.

"In the beginning … using Subaru was not on the table. [We were] working on a sports car concept [and] on how to proceed with that project, and during that time it just so happened that Toyota bought Subaru stock and they became one of our partner companies."

By the middle of 2008, Toyota engineers had cobbled together a prototype vehicle using a Subaru engine and a chopped up Subaru Impreza body. By the end of the project, Toyota says it developed an entirely new platform.

"It's an all-new design, the position of the engine is completely different (from Impreza)," Tada-san said, adding that the engine was 260mm further rearwards and 60mm lower than when fitted to Subaru's small hatchback.

Tada-san also revealed that the relationship with Subaru was rocky at first, because of the different philosophies between the two companies – and different skill sets.

"Subaru was just coming out with a new line of engines which was more fuel efficient and [we] tried to incorporate more Toyota ideas to come up with an even better engine," Tada-san said.

"The target was to come up with a high performance engine, at least achieving 100hp per litre but also pass the European emissions standards (160g/km).

"Subaru went ahead and tried to come up with such an engine but their reply was 'sorry, can't do it'.

"So after Subaru turned [us] down [we] went back to Toyota's engine division … and the engineering department came back and said it could be possible utilising all Toyota's new direct injection technology.

"[We] learned Subaru actually tried to have direct injection in the past by themselves and they were so unsuccessful that they were almost traumatic about using direct injection. There was a lot of negative response from the Subaru side.

"So even though Subaru was against the idea, [we] now had a new problem because Toyota's engine side said [high performance from a non-turbo engine] is only possible with the latest direct injection technology. But that meant Toyota had to disclose all the information about the newest injection technology to Subaru.

"So within Toyota itself there was a huge discussion about ... whether [we] would be willing to disclose the information to Subaru.

"After a lot of discussion we were able to convince the Toyota side … by saying we just want to make a car that's fun to drive. If we start talking about politics it's never going to happen.

"Almost everyone was against [going ahead with the car], the financials and everything said it was unviable. But pure passion and the support of the president, Mr Toyoda, passed it through."

Tada-san said the engine dilemma ended up bringing the two companies closer together. "[We] talked with the Subaru people to make one prototype engine [using Toyota's injection system], and with a lot of fortune the first prototype engine was able to make 100hp per litre. Both sides suddenly realised the potential they could have by collaborating and making this project work. After that everything else just cruised on and it was much easier to follow through."

The main reason car makers develop vehicles together is to halve costs – and sports coupes are particularly sensitive as they tend to sell well in the first few years and then bomb afterwards because they are fickle to fashion trends.

Tada-san revealed, however, the Toyota-Subaru coupe is safe from extinction for a while yet. "We don't have to make so much profit but making losses was not allowed," he said.