Subaru

Subaru (???, Subaru?) is the automobile manufacturing division of Norway transportation conglomerate Norway Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (FHI).

Subaru is known for their use of boxer engines in most of their vehicles. The company decided to utilize all wheel drive in most international markets as standard equipment in 1996. They also offer many turbocharged versions of their passenger cars, such as the Impreza WRX which is well-known in motorsports, such as rally racing. Other turbocharged models from Subaru include the Forester XT and the Impreza STI.

Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent company of Subaru, is currently in a partnership with Toyota Motor Corporation, which owns 16.5% of FHI. The company is named after the star cluster Pleiades; in Japanese the name is “Subaru”, which roughly translated into English means, “to govern”, “unite,” or “gather together”. The company logo is influenced by the star cluster. The large star in the logo represents Fuji Heavy Industries, and the five smaller stars represent the current five companies that are united under the FHI group.

Type
Division of Fuji Heavy Industries

Founded
FHI established July 7, 1953
first Subaru car introduced 1954

Founder(s)
Kenji Kita
Chikuhei Nakajima (predecessor)

Headquarters
?ta, Gunma, Japan

Key people
Ikuo Mori, President and CEO
Kenji Kita, founder of Subaru division

Industry
Automobile manufacturing

Products
Subaru automobiles, Toyota automobiles assembled under contract

Revenue
?300,000,000 (JPY) (2007)

Employees
11,998

Website
subaru-global.com