The first president of STI, Mr.Ryuichiro Kuze,
the man who lead SUBARU to success in its WRC program, has passed away.
Mr. Kuze, former Senior General Manager of the Vehicle Development Dept at Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI), and the first president of SUBARU Tecnica International(STI) Inc., passed away at 21:30 on 9th March 2005 (Japan Time) to lung cancer. He was 74 years old.


History

1930 Born 24 December in Tokyo

1953 Joined Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. in their Design department. He is credited with designing the �Hurricane� motorcycle, and the �Rabbit� scooter.
1966 Design of compact vehicles, including �SUBARU 1000�.
1967 1967 First Manager of Product Planning, FHI. Since that time, he assumed important posts including Director of Product Planning, First Director, Parts Importing.
1978 1978 Transferred to USA as Technical representative of USA branch.
1980 1979 Returned to Japan and took on General Manager of Overseas Engineering Dept. and Overseas Service Dept roles.
1985 Became Director, Senior General Manager of Engineering Dept.
1986 Became Executive director of Vehicle Development Div.

In 1988, SUBARU Tecnica International (STI) Inc. was established. Mr.Kuze was appointed as first president of the firm. He held a variety of important posts at STI including Executive chairman (1997), Counselor (1999), and Supervisor (2000) until his retirement in 2002. During his career at STI, he made some magnificent achievements including:

-In 1988, Notched up the FIA world record for the fastest average speed over a distance of 100,000km with a Legacy.

-Lead SUBARU to start a full WRC program in 1990, takng the firm' s first victory in Rally New Zealand in 1993. In 1995, SUBARU clinched both the Manufacturer' s Championship with the Impreza, and the Driver' s Championship with Colin McRae. Mr. Kuze was also responsible for taking the firm to three consecutive Manufacturer' s titles; in 1995, 1996, and 1997. SUBARU was the first Japanese manufacturer to achieve this feat.

-SUBARU clinched the Manufacturer's and Driver's crowns in the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) two years in a row ? with drivers Colin McRae in 1993, and Possum Bourne in 1994. SUBARU took the APRC Driver' s title again in 1996 with Kenneth Eriksson.

-Mr. Kuse was involved in the production, development, manufacturing and sales of STi-version products since STI introduced the Legacy Touring Wagon STi Version. This involvement continued for the frequent introduction of a raft of products including the Impreza WRX-RA STi version, the WRX STi version II, the WRX STi version III, and the Impreza 22B.

The team was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Mr. Kuze on Wednesday night in Japan.

Mr. Kuze was a former main board director of Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) and became the founding President of Subaru Tecnica International (STI) in 1988. In this role, he was instrumental in Subaru's decision to enter rallying and, having visited Europe in 1988 to determine the best partner for Subaru's motorsport programme, agreed a partnership with Prodrive.

With a passion for rallying, Mr. Kuze was a seasoned competitor in the Japan National Rally Championship and enjoyed considerable success as a driver. Even after his retirement, he was a regular visitor to the World Rally Championship, maintaining his relationship with the Subaru team he founded.

At this sad time our thoughts are with Mr. Kuze's family. As a mark of respect, the team will observe a minute's silence during the first service of Rally Mexico. SWRT drivers will wear black armbands and the rally cars will feature a modified livery in remembrance.