Rumor: Subaru Canceling WRC Program - Now Official

[WRXWagon2112]

Uh-oh! This looks bad for WRC and Subaru fans:

Even more bad news (motor)sports fans. According to a report by Finnish sports site MT3.fi, Subaru will follow in the footsteps of Suzuki and pull out of the 2009 World Rally Championship (WRC) season. While Suzuki's declaration was a surprise, Subaru's exit from the world of rallying would be a serious blow to the sport as a whole and its fans in particular. A formal announcement will supposedly follow tomorrow, but we're keeping our fingers crossed that the Finns got this one wrong.

--Alan

[Katya4me]

I just read this elsewhere as well. Between this and your post yesterday, WRC is definitely taking a downturn in the next couple of years.

[Mr Kleen]

[zaxrex]

Can they still have the JR WRC?
On another note, what is going to happen to all the support staff and equipment that they ran around with? Methinks some privateer groups are going to be getting some sweet deals on top of the line shwag.

"Like French rifles, never fired, only dropped once..."

[zaxrex]

Ahh crap, uckfme.

FHI considers it has achieved its original target in WRC participation. However, while considering positioning the WRC activity in Subaru branding strategy towards the future, our business environment has been dramatically changed due to the quick deterioration of the global economy. In order to optimize the management resources and to strengthen further the Subaru brand, FHI decided to withdraw from WRC activities at the earliest timing.

[ElZorro]

The writing has been on the wall for awhile... they have been sucking, we knew big changes were coming that were negative for Subaru (no AWD and no boxster). Now you add the financial piece, Subaru's attempt at focusing on the US market (where Rally has little to no visibility) and its a no brainer... extremely sad, but a no brainer.

[Libra Monkee]

*salutes*
*plays taps*
*somewhere off in a distant cemetery, Colin McRae rolls in his grave*


Press release on SWRT.com

[Cereb Daithi]

This doesn't surprise me sadly. Wonder how pissed Solberg is since he did sign that like 5 year contract or something.

I have some other thoughts but I need to run out the door. More later


EDIT: Wonder what happens to Subaru Rally Team USA? It is SOA's baby but I wonder if FHI will muscle them?

[Sabre]

This is not good news, not good at all. In a sense though, the WRC did it to themselves. Why couldn't they leave well enough alone?!?!? I really do wish Rally would take off here and NASTYCRAP would disappear into nothingness... but alas, there are too many rednecks who like watching cars go around in a circle...

[WRXWagon2112]

If it's a NASCAR-free world you're hoping for, you might be in luck:

A columnist over at Slate.com is recommending -- and not lightly, he wants you to know -- that with the domestic automakers enduring "Detroit's version of The Troubles," now would be a good time to "euthanize" NASCAR. He makes a long argument, but the crux of it is simple: if the domestics get a heap of money from the government, should that money really be used to sponsor a specialized race series that arguably doesn't have the national pull or the return it once did? His supporting arguments are sometimes disingenuous and occasionally slightly off-base, but the question is worth considering. If the public loans money to the automakers, who decides where that money is spent? Yet, if Ford, GM, and Chrysler were to do the same thing to NASCAR that Honda, Suzuki, Audi, and Subaru have been doing, well... that would leave NASCAR as a one-make series featuring, ta-da, Toyota. And wouldn't that be something to see?

--Alan

[Mr Kleen]

anything is possible. not probable, but possible...

[Sabre]

Oh hell ya, cancel that Nascrap!

[complacent]

:sadpanda:

[Cereb Daithi]

I keep thinking 'At least they established a great legacy that we can always remember fondly'..

....but damnit I'm still going to miss them

[Mr Kleen]

and it's not like they ended on a high note...

[Cereb Daithi]

Agreed. But it's not like Groub B did either, or mitsubishi, or colin mcrae (im still sad about his death). Group B ended with all thsoe deaths, mitisubishi started fading away and then died, and then colin the former world champion couldn't even best 2 amercians at the x-games and did horribly in the world rally stage when he filled in for citroen after loeb's arm injury. It seems to happen all the time in rally. Personally even Subaru's downs in the recent years haven't spoiled the memory of the old 555 era and even the mroe recent Burns, McRae, and Solberg campionship victories.