Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., maker of Subaru cars, has developed what it claims is the world's first horizontally opposed diesel engine and eventually plans to install it in a model to be launched in Europe, a Fuji senior managing director said Saturday.

Mamoru Morinaga said the 2000cc, four-cylinder engine, the first diesel engine developed by the company, will be installed in a remodeled version of the Forester sport utility vehicle, which has recorded brisk sales in Europe.

"We considered purchasing it (a diesel engine) from other companies but have developed it on our own while sticking to our horizontally opposed engine technology," he said. Morinaga said the company plans to install the engine in a minivan currently being developed jointly with General Motors Corp. of the United States.

The company plans to manufacture up to 100,000 of the engines annually in Japan or Europe, he said.

Fuji Heavy Industries will seek cooperation from Japan's Isuzu Motors Ltd. and Italy's Fiat SpA, two of GM's group companies, to mass produce the engine and reduce its emissions, he said.

The company hopes to use GM group facilities to produce the engine, he said. GM has a 21.1 percent stake in the Japanese automaker. Fuji Heavy Industries is one of only two automakers in the world to use horizontally opposed engines. The other is German luxury sports car maker Porsche AG.

The type of engine developed has its cylinders horizontally opposed, which gives it a low balance for stable driving.