It"s official... Subaru...

It"s official... Subaru has confirmed that it will pull out of the World Rally Championship with immediate effect.

Holding back tears during an extraordinary press conference today in Tokyo, Subaru president Ikuo Mori announced that his company would be withdrawing from the World Rally Championship.

тЂњWe had originally planned to continue WorksтЂ™ rallying for one more year and consider our options at the end of the 2009 season, but falling sales and the worsening global economic climate has brought our decision forward a year,тЂќ he said.

Following hot on the heels of HondaтЂ™s shock withdrawal from Formula One earlier this month and SuzukiтЂ™s surprise exit from WRC only yesterday, SubaruтЂ™s announcement today means that the WRC is without Japanese representation from next year.

In its 19 years on the WRC stage, Subaru, together with its racing arm Subaru Tecnica International (STi), captured three manufacturer titles while picking up triple driverтЂ™s championships with Colin McCrae, Richard Burns and Petter Solberg. In recent years however, Subaru had been struggling in the wake of a seemingly invincible Citroen piloted by Sebastien Loeb.

Mori said that his phrasing тЂ“ тЂњSubaru will cease all Works operations with regard to its WRC participationтЂќ - did not mean that Subaru will never race again. тЂњBut we will not be entering rallying for the foreseeable future.тЂќ He intimated that the company needed to focus on its core technologies including the well-known horizontally-opposed engines and 4WD drivetrain in addition to enhancing its environmental and safety features on future products.

As Mori started to thank Subaru fans for supporting the blue liveried world rally team, and express тЂњjust how difficult it was to reach this decision,тЂќ he was overcome with emotion, and had to pause for around ten seconds to compose himself. тЂњWhile this decision is sudden it was necessary,тЂќ he stressed as he explained that his rally directors were at this very moment in discussions with WRC partner Prodrive, and drivers Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson as to how to proceed forward. While Subaru would cancel all works operations, Mori said that his company was exploring ways it could assist private teams on a significantly scaled down basis.

While SubaruтЂ™s shock announcement came just one day after Suzuki revealed their intentions to quit WRC, Mori stressed that his companyтЂ™s decision was not influenced by Suzuki. тЂњOur final, painful decision was made after lengthy in-house consultations yesterday, taking into careful consideration all that is happening on the global stage at present.тЂќ That of course not only includes SubaruтЂ™s poor WRC results, falling global sales and its decision to cut world-wide production by 40,000 units in 2009, but the fact that the cut-off date for registration for next yearтЂ™s WRC was December 15, yesterday.

Throughout almost all of its 19 years in WRC, Subaru has used the blue Impreza as an image that has not only become synonymous with the company, but is a symbol of its racing spirit. The big question is, which will be the next firm to fall in Japan? All eyes are now on Toyota.