It’s different everywhere in the US. I grew up in California. Graduated HS 1989. My elementary and high schools were completely fenced in while the middle school i attended was not at the time, but has been for some time now. Even in high school it was a closed campus and only Seniors were allowed to leave at lunch if their parents signed off on it. It was called “Senior Privileges.” I had a friend that went to Highschool about 40mi from me and they had an open campus and everyone could leave at lunch. No clue how those decisions were made, but his HS had a literal smoking section on campus for students. The 80s were a different time.

Since it appears Toyota has an interest in Subaru and Subaru has insane brand loyalty, they should be fine. Toyota could take a more direct role through sharing technology if it would help. I don’t know much about Mazda other than they are still made in Japan and I love my CX5. I certainly hope there is room for the smaller, high quality brands. I would be concerned about any manufacturer that hasn’t made progress on hybrid and EV tech though. I hear those Chinese kids make some pretty inexpensive options.

I thought the point was to combine so that they could compete with Chinese EV’s? To better move forward with hybrid and EV vehicles as the world transitions away from ICEs? I think it’s crazy that even combined they still sell a fraction of what Toyota sells and still only puts them at #3 behind VW. I only recently learned it’s so lopsided.