Fuji Heavy Industries, better known to you as Subaru, started full production of the BRZ sportscar – and and Toyota 86 – at their Gunma Main Plant in Japan, after a ceremony attended by some high-profile officials. The BRZ (86) is a result of FHI and TMC (Toyota) business collaboration agreement signed in 2005.

Subaru Gunma Main Plant, where minicars were previously manufactured, was recently renewed for the Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86 production. FHI plans to produce the Impreza at the same plant by March 2013. The investment they’ve made will be returned in the long run, as the BRZ is here to stay. They are already developing different versions of the car for future production. There’s also a convertible variant in the work.

The standard BRZ is a 200bhp boxer-engined rear-drive sports car, developed jointly by Toyota who calls their version GT 86. The car will also reach America as Scion FR-S.

At the ceremony, TMC President Akio Toyoda said, “I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the ceaseless efforts of all FHI people and staff who were involved in the development, production and preparations for both models. The Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86 not have been successfully developed without collaboration between FHI and TMC. We started the alliance for mutual growth in 2005. Now I’m delighted to see this moment that our alliance surely bore fruit.”

FHI President Yasuyuki Yoshinaga, after extending his gratitude to all participants at the ceremony, said, “the car symbolizes our corporate strategy in two significant aspects: good progress of our alliances; and advancement of our “select and focus” approach. The start of production today made a huge step for us, but it is not our goal. By constantly refining both models, TMC and FHI hope to nourish each model to be loved by customers all over the world for a long time to come.”