Subaru To Adopt Toyota Telematics System

CLICK4 G-Book Will Cypha Story

TOKYO, Feb 24, 2003; Reuters reported that Toyota Motor Corp said today it had agreed with Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd to let Fuji's Subaru-brand vehicles carry its "G-Book" information and entertainment system.

Under a basic agreement unveiled by the two Japanese automakers, Toyota's G-Book telematics system would be loaded into Subaru cars to be sold in Japan in and after 2004.

G-Book, which is linked to the car navigation system, offers a wide range of interactive services from downloading music and karaoke to playing games and customised news reports.

The firms said in a joint statement that details of their alliance, including the name of specific models, conditions and timings would be decided later.

By forming what they dubbed the "first fully fledged alliance in the nation's telematics market", Toyota aims to make G-Book the industry standard in a highly lucrative market that some analysts say could top 60 trillion yen ($505.6 billion) in Japan.

The alliance is also seen as important for Toyota to brave competition with similar systems at rival automakers, such as Nissan Motor Co's CarWings and Honda Motor Co's InterNavi.

"Will Cypha", launched in October, was the first Toyota car equipped with G-Book. The automaker said all of its models released from mid-2003 that are equipped with navigation systems will include G-Book.