Fuji Heavy Industries

Cherry Hill-based Subaru of America Inc. today said its September sales of 21,432 vehicles represents a 47 percent increase over September 2009. The results reflect a near doubling of sales of the Subaru Outback sport utility wagon. Year-to-date sales of 193,614 units, compared to 158,421 units sold by this time in 2009, represents a 22-percent gain, the company said. Subaru has about 2 percent of the U.S. market share. Subaru of America is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. of Japan.

Isuzu Motors and Fuji Heavy Industries, which builds the Subaru, announced yesterday that they would construct a $500 million joint-venture assembly plant near Lafayette, Ind. The new factory, the sixth Japanese automaking facililty in this country, is expected to employ 1,700 workers when it begins operating late in 1989. It is scheduled to assemble 120,000 vehicles per year initially, with production evenly divided between the two firms. A subsequent expansion, scheduled for about 1994, would double the plant's output to 240,000 cars and trucks.

Thanks largely to the sales of its new Legacy subcompact, Subaru of America was able to report yesterday that it had made money for the second quarter in a row after having lost $100 million in fiscal 1988 and 1989. The U.S. importer of Subaru vehicles, which is based in Cherry Hill, listed a $10 million profit for the first quarter, ended Jan. 31. This compared with a first-quarter 1989 loss of $12.3 million. The company said first-quarter results had improved because the Legacy sedans and wagons had contributed higher profit margins than its other Subaru models, and because of a reduction in advertising costs and sales incentives.

Subaru has long had a reputation in this country for selling rugged all-wheel-drive vehicles popular with outdoors types. Now, the Japanese carmaker's parent, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., wants to raise Subaru's image into the realm of premium-car brands - such as Audi, Volvo and Saab - without alienating loyal customers. Industry analysts said Subaru, which has its U.S. headquarters in Cherry Hill, was following a trend among automakers with middle-market brands. The goal is to charge more and increase profitability.

Subaru of America's president, Thomas R. Gibson, said yesterday that he would resign from the Cherry Hill auto company to become president and chief executive of SMG, the Philadelphia company that operates the Spectrum and arenas and convention centers in the United States and Europe. SMG says it is the largest public-facility management company in the world. It runs 36 arenas, convention centers and theaters, including Moscone Center in San Francisco, Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, Los Angeles Coliseum, the Superdome in New Orleans and Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

Subaru of America, which lost $30 million in 1987, yesterday said it made a small profit in its latest quarter, but not enough to preserve the company's common-stock dividend. Subaru suspended its quarterly cash dividend of 9.5 cents a share to "replenish our cash position," said spokesman Syd Havely. The Cherry Hill-based distributor of Subaru automobiles and trucks last paid a dividend on Dec. 31. "We expect the 1988 automotive market to be very competitive and characterized by aggressive marketing programs," said company chairman Harvey Lamm.

Shareholders of Subaru of America Inc. yesterday agreed to sell their stock to Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., the manufacturer of Subaru cars, for a minimum of $8.50 a share or about $208 million. The deal is contingent on the sale of Subaru's portfolio of vehicle leases, which is being negotiated with a prospective buyer, according to Subaru spokesman Dan Dalton. If the lease-portfolio negotiations are consummated, a date for completion of the sale to Fuji will be set and the Cherry Hill importer of foreign cars will become a wholly owned sales subsidiary of the Japanese automaker.

The Japanese company that makes the cars and trucks imported by Subaru of America has agreed to invest $20 million in Subaru in return for a greater voice in running the Cherry Hill importer. Subaru said Fuji Heavy Industries has agreed to buy 50,000 shares of Subaru's non-voting preferred stock for $20 million, an amount equal to nearly 10 percent of Subaru's net worth. Subaru has reported losses totaling $88 million in its last two fiscal years. Subaru, at its Feb. 24 board meeting, will give Fuji two more seats on the company's board of directors.

With work crews completing the finishing touches, Subaru of America Inc. has set the formal opening of its $18 million headquarters in Cherry Hill for October. Earlier this summer, the company moved 450 employees from a nearby industrial park to the new seven-story building on Route 70. The move was a long-awaited solution to the growing company's problem of increasingly cramped quarters. For 16 years, Subaru occupied a converted warehouse at the Airport Industrial Park in Pennsauken, about a mile away from the new headquarters.

Two small Japanese automakers announced plans yesterday to build a U.S. plant for joint assembly of Subaru cars and Isuzu trucks. The $480 million joint-venture plant, 51 percent of which will be owned by Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., the maker of Subarus, and 49 percent by Isuzu Motor Co. Ltd., will be designed to turn out at least 120,000 vehicles a year starting in 1989, the companies said. No plant site has been selected. Neil Szigethy, a spokesman for Fuji's U.S. sales affiliate, Subaru of America Inc. of Pennsauken, N.J., said that although the companies were considering building the facility in the Southeast or southern Midwest, they were not excluding any U.S. locale.

Carol Hunt has been promoted to vice president of finance for the Convention Center from director of financial operations. She oversees all the accounting and financial functions of the Authority and is a liaison with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and City of Philadelphia on financial matters. Subaru of America Inc. , a wholly owned Cherry Hill subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. of Japan, named Takeshi Tachimori chairman, president, and CEO. He had been corporate senior vice president and chief general manager of the Subaru Product and Portfolio Planning Division at Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. and replaces Yoshio Hasunuma.

Cherry Hill-based Subaru of America Inc. today said its September sales of 21,432 vehicles represents a 47 percent increase over September 2009. The results reflect a near doubling of sales of the Subaru Outback sport utility wagon. Year-to-date sales of 193,614 units, compared to 158,421 units sold by this time in 2009, represents a 22-percent gain, the company said. Subaru has about 2 percent of the U.S. market share. Subaru of America is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. of Japan.

LaSalle Hotel Properties jumped into Philadelphia's Center City hotel market with two purchases Wednesday, while selling its only Atlantic City-area property. The Bethesda, Md., real estate investment trust bought the Westin Philadelphia from HEI Hotels & Resorts for $145 million. The 294-room Westin at 99 S. 17th St. is part of the two-tower Liberty Place office, retail, and residential complex. LaSalle also bought the Embassy Suites Philadelphia - Center City hotel from HEI for $79 million.

Subaru has long had a reputation in this country for selling rugged all-wheel-drive vehicles popular with outdoors types. Now, the Japanese carmaker's parent, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., wants to raise Subaru's image into the realm of premium-car brands - such as Audi, Volvo and Saab - without alienating loyal customers. Industry analysts said Subaru, which has its U.S. headquarters in Cherry Hill, was following a trend among automakers with middle-market brands. The goal is to charge more and increase profitability.

Subaru of America's president, Thomas R. Gibson, said yesterday that he would resign from the Cherry Hill auto company to become president and chief executive of SMG, the Philadelphia company that operates the Spectrum and arenas and convention centers in the United States and Europe. SMG says it is the largest public-facility management company in the world. It runs 36 arenas, convention centers and theaters, including Moscone Center in San Francisco, Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, Los Angeles Coliseum, the Superdome in New Orleans and Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

Sales of Nike Inc.'s new cross-training athletic shoe went from zero in 1987 to an estimated $400 million this year, and Bo and everybody else know one big reason why. In addition to selling a lot of shoes, the advertising campaign featuring athlete Bo Jackson firmly established the small ad shop of Wieden & Kennedy as undoubtedly the hottest agency in Portland, Ore. Now, Wieden & Kennedy has taken on another challenge, that of trying to...

Subaru of America Inc., the Cherry Hill auto distributor, yesterday said it would cut its 1,080-person payroll by up to 10 percent. Some employees have been notified in recent weeks that they will be fired effective Dec. 28, spokesman Richard Marshall said. More reductions will follow, he said. The cuts will be made in Cherry Hill, Pennsauken and at regional offices across the nation. About 60 percent of the company's employees are in New Jersey. Subaru, which lost $42.4 million last year, was bought in August by Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., the Japanese company that makes Subaru's cars and that had owned 49 percent of Subaru's stock.

When Harvey H. Lamm stepped down last week as board chairman and chief executive officer of troubled Subaru of America Inc., it raised some interesting questions: What went wrong with that once wildly profitable house of cars that Lamm built, and what kind of future does the Subaru nameplate face? What has happened is that Subaru sales in the United States have sagged significantly in recent times. As a consequence, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., the Japanese manufacturer of Subaru cars, decided to take full control of U.S. sales.

Harvey H. Lamm, a co-founder of Subaru of America Inc., yesterday announced his resignation as board chairman and chief executive officer of the Cherry Hill auto-importing company. Lamm's resignation was part of a major management reshuffling at Subaru of America (SOA). It was disclosed just four days after a merger that made Subaru of America, which imports and markets Subaru cars in this country, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., the Japanese manufacturer that builds Subarus.

Oil prices, propelled by an early-morning run-up that focused on tensions instead of the possibility of peace in the Middle East, settled higher yesterday. Light sweet crude, sometimes called West Texas intermediate, for October delivery closed up 85 cents at $26.77 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. At one point, crude had moved up to $27.50 as traders began to doubt there could be a quick resolution to the crisis. But prices fell later after President Bush praised the promise of higher OPEC production.