Nissan acquired a 20.4% stake in 1968 during a period of government-ordered merging of the Japanese auto industry in order to improve competitiveness under the administration of Prime Minister Eisaku Sato. Nissan would utilize FHI's bus manufacturing capability and expertise for their Nissan Diesel line of buses. In turn many Subaru vehicles, even today, use parts from the Nissan manufacturing keiretsu. The Subaru automatic transmission, known as the 4EAT, is also used in the first generation Nissan Pathfinder. Speculation has suggested Subaru introduced Renault to Nissan when Renault asked for assistance in all-wheel drive (AWD) technology, and when FHI told Renault to discuss their plans with Nissan, the discussions may have been a contributing factor to the currently successful Renault-Nissan alliance.[citation needed]
Upon Nissan's acquisition by Renault, its 20% stake was sold to General Motors in 1999. Troy Clarke, of General Motors served as representative to Fuji Heavy Industries on their corporate board. During that time, the Subaru Forester was sold as a Chevrolet Forester in India in exchange for the Opel Zafira being sold as aSubaru Traviq in Japan. Also, the Chevrolet Borrego concept was presented in 2002, a crossover coupe/pickup truck being derived from the Japanese-market Legacy Turbo platform. During the brief General Motors period, a "badge engineered" Impreza was sold in the United States as the Saab 9-2X. An SUV (Subaru Tribeca / SAAB 9-6X) was also planned[6][7] but the SAAB version did not proceed, and styling was recycled in the 2008 Tribeca refresh.[8]
On October 5, 2005 Toyota Motor Corporation purchased 8.7% of FHI shares from General Motors, which had owned 20.1% since 1999.[9] GM later divested its remaining 11.4% stake on the open market to sever all ties with FHI. FHI previously stated there might have been 27 million shares (3.4%) acquired before the start of trading by an unknown party on October 6, 2005, and speculation suggested a bank or perhaps another automaker was involved. After the purchase, Toyota announced a contract with Subaru on March 13, 2006 to use the underutilized Subaru manufacturing facility in Lafayette, Indiana, as well as plans to hire up to 1,000 workers and set aside an assembly line for the Camry, beginning in the second quarter of 2007.