Subaru embarking on plan to speed product developm

[BMWDave]

Subaru embarking on plan to speed product development while reducing costs
YUZO YAMAGUCHI | Automotive News
Posted Date: 8/23/05
TOKYO -- Subaru is embarking on a plan to cut development costs per vehicle by 100,000 yen, or about $905 at current exchange rates.

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., which makes Subarus, will reduce the number of test models partly by doing fewer crash tests.

Instead, the automaker will use computer-simulated crashes. The company aims to reduce its vehicle development time, now about 20 months, by 10 to 20 percent.

Fuji also plans to share more parts among nameplates to save money.

The automaker will apply the cost-cutting methods to all upcoming models.

It plans to redesign the Legacy in 2009 for the United States after remodeling the Impreza and Forester.

Fuji's U.S. operation also is cutting costs. By using General Motors' global purchasing network, Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc. in Lafayette, Ind., aims to cut its purchasing costs by 13.5 percent by year end.

Subaru of Indiana forecasts that it will lose $207 million in 2005, compared with a $74 million loss last year.

The bigger loss reflects spending to launch the B9 Tribeca sport wagon and to remove production equipment that Fuji Heavy's ex-joint venture partner, Isuzu Motors Ltd., used there.

[Raghavan]

will this mean cheap ass cars now?

[bobwill]

Ain't Computational Fluid Dynamics programs great? :D
This, and probably Ford's recent announcement of reduced development time, seems to stem more from recent improvements in cheap comutational power as well as sophisticated programs to solve problems that would have required physical models in the past.
These same techniques, on a smaller scale have also brought about the rag-doll physics in our video games.

[giant_mtb]

will this mean cheap ass cars now?

No, not really...900 bucks per vehicle.