Subaru demands DNA test on Toyota

Subaru says it is the creator of the two all-new sports cars which will be sold simultaneously as its BRZ and the Toyota 86.

The smaller of the two Japanese makers, who are partners in the project, says it is responsible for all the important stuff in the BRZ-86 and Toyota only added the froth and bubble once the hard work was done. 

Subaru did the engine, chassis, suspension and brakes in the project, and the 86 even has a signature Subaru exhaust note from its flat-four engine.

The car definitely looks like a Toyota, and is missing the all-wheel drive that has become a Subaru signature in Australia, but company chief Nick Senior says there is no doubt about who was responsible for the car.

"It is, at the end of the day, a Subaru," Senior says bluntly to Carsguide. "Toyota input, at the end of the day, was design and product planning."

His claim is sure to spark a stoush as the doors are thrown open this morning at the Tokyo Motor Show and people can decide for themselves as the two production cars can be assessed side-by-side for the first time. 

Toyota has already given journalists a first drive experience in its 86 - and it's a terrific car - while Subaru will follow soon with the BRZ. Senior says anyone who drives the 86 or the BRZ will know that it's a Subaru at heart. 

"They have poured a lot of Subaru into this car. it is a driver's car," he says. "The car, the drivetrain and the driving experience is all Subaru. That's one of the things that's given us a real cause for discussion and debate about this car and whether it comes to Australia."

Subaru is also worried that it might not be able to match Toyota's plan for a starting price in the low $30,000s, perhaps as little as $32,000.

"We are studying. We won't make a decision until later in December," Senior says. But he seems to be wavering from his previous assertion that the BRZ was unlikely for Australia because two of the brand's local pillars are all-wheel drive and turbocharging for its performance cars, both missing from the BRZ.

"It's a process that started several years ago. It is great, at last, that the car breaks cover," he says. "More people have seen it now ... and I think that it ticks off a lot of boxes.

"What Fuji has said for some time is they would like to consider it, and take it. But the final decision is up to us."