People tend to think about Subaru and Toyota as two sizable Japanese manufacturers without realizing the divergence in scale. Toyota is around 10 times as large as Subaru in terms of output and is therefore better positioned to capitalize on its economies of scale. And as it would have been very costly for Subaru to go it alone when developing a new hybrid system, Toyota was willing to help. But while Toyota also had a ready-made way to make Subaru’s new hybrid system all-wheel drive, Subaru rejected that offer and went its own way.
