is the automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate Subaru Corporation (formerly known as Fuji Heavy Industries), the twenty-first largest automaker by production worldwide in 2017.
Subaru cars are known for their use of a boxer engine layout in most internal combustion vehicles above 1,500 cc. The Symmetrical All Wheel Drive drive-train layout was introduced in 1972. Both became standard equipment for mid-size and smaller cars in most markets by 1996. The lone exceptions are the BRZ, introduced in 2012 via a partnership with Toyota, which pairs the boxer engine with rear-wheel-drive, and the Uncharted, introduced in 2026 also in partnership with Toyota, which is front-wheel-drive in its standard configuration and offers Symmetrical All Wheel Drive as a factory option. Subaru also offers turbocharged versions of its passenger cars, such as the WRX, Levorg STI, Outback XT, Ascent, and formerly the Legacy GT, Legacy XT, and Forester XT.
In Western markets, Subaru vehicles have traditionally attracted a small but devoted core of buyers. The company's marketing targets those who desire its signature engine and drive train, all-wheel drive and rough-road capabilities, or affordable sports car designs.
is the transliteration of the Japanese すばる, meaning the Pleiades star cluster M45, or the "Seven Sisters" (one of whom tradition says is invisible — hence only six stars in the Subaru logo), which in turn inspires the logo and alludes to the companies that merged to create FHI.
History
Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) and Subaru's first cars Fuji Heavy Industries started out as the Aircraft Research Laboratory in 1915, headed by Chikuhei Nakajima. In 1932, the company was reorganized as Nakajima Aircraft Company, Ltd and soon became a major manufacturer of aircraft for Japan during World War II. At the end of the Second World War, Nakajima Aircraft was again reorganized, this time as Fuji Sangyo Co, Ltd. In 1946, the company created the Fuji Rabbit, a motor scooter, with spare aircraft parts from the war. In 1950, Fuji Sangyo was divided into 12 smaller corporations according to the Japanese government's 1950 anti-zaibatsu legislation, the Corporate Credit Rearrangement Act. Between 1953 and 1955, five of these corporations and a newly formed corporation decided to merge to form Fuji Heavy Industries. These companies were: Fuji Kogyo, a scooter manufacturer; coachbuilder Fuji Jidosha; engine manufacturer Omiya Fuji Kogyo; chassis builder Utsunomiya Sharyo and the Tokyo Fuji Sangyo trading company.
Kenji Kita, CEO of Fuji Heavy Industries at the time, wanted the new company to be involved in car manufacturing and soon began plans for building a car with the development code-name P-1. Kita canvassed the company for suggestions about naming the P1, but none of the proposals were appealing enough. In the end he gave the company a Japanese name that he "had been cherishing in his heart": Subaru, which is the Japanese name for the Pleiades star cluster. The first Subaru car was named the Subaru 1500. Only twenty were manufactured owing to multiple supply issues. Subsequently, the company designed and manufactured dozens of vehicles including the 1500 (1954), the tiny air-cooled 360 (1958), the Sambar (1961), and the 1000 (which saw the introduction of the Subaru boxer engine in 1965).
Later partnerships Nissan acquired a 20.7% stake in Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru's parent company, in 1968 during a period of government-ordered merging of the Japanese auto industry in order to improve competitiveness under the administration of Prime Minister Eisaku Satō. Nissan would utilize FHI's bus manufacturing capability and expertise for its Nissan Diesel line of buses. In turn many Subaru vehicles, even today, use parts from the Nissan manufacturing keiretsu. The Subaru automatic transmission, known as the 4EAT, is also used in the first generation Nissan Pathfinder. While under this arrangement with Nissan, Subaru introduced the R-2 (1969), the Rex and the Leone (1971), the BRAT (1978), Alcyone (1985), the Legacy (1989), the Impreza (1993) (and its WRX subtype), and the Forester (1997).
Upon Nissan's alliance with Renault, its stake in FHI was sold to General Motors in 1999. Troy Clarke of General Motors served as representative to Fuji Heavy Industries on its corporate board. During that time, Subaru introduced the Baja (2003), and the Tribeca (2005). The Subaru Forester was sold as a Chevrolet Forester in India in exchange for the Opel Zafira being sold as a Subaru Traviq in Japan. Also, the Chevrolet Borrego concept was presented in 2002, a crossover coupe/pickup truck being derived from the Japanese-market Legacy Turbo platform. During the brief General Motors period, a badge engineered Impreza was sold in the United States as the Saab 9-2X. An SUV (Subaru Tribeca/Saab 9-6X) was also planned but the Saab version did not proceed, and styling was recycled in the 2008 Tribeca refresh.
GM liquidated its holdings in FHI in 2005. Nearly all Saab-Subaru joint projects were dropped at that time, other than Subaru supplying parts for the Saab 9-2x. Toyota Motors bought a little over 40% of GM's former FHI stock, amounting to 8.7% of FHI. (The rest of GM's shares went to a Fuji stock buy-back program.) Toyota and Subaru have since collaborated on a number of projects, among them building the Toyota Camry in Subaru's Indiana U.S. plant beginning in April 2007. Subaru introduced the Exiga in 2008.
Toyota increased its share of FHI to 16.5% in July 2008. Subsequently, Toyota and Subaru jointly developed the Subaru BRZ, first sold in January 2012. Toyota sold the BRZ as the Scion FR-S in the US and Canada until 2018, where it was renamed to the Toyota 86 due to the discontinuation of the Scion brand in 2016. Around the time of Toyota's increased ownership, Subaru also declared that it would no longer develop its own Kei cars and trucks, instead selling rebadged products from Toyota's Daihatsu subsidiary. This also allowed Subaru, a small manufacturer, to focus on its core of boxer-engined family cars. The last of Subaru's own kei vehicles to be built was the sixth generation Subaru Sambar, which was taken out of production in March 2012 after 54 years of continuous manufacturing in this category. In 2022, Subaru launched the Solterra, a rebadged version of the Toyota bZ4X electric SUV.
Marketing Some of the advertising slogans Subaru has used in the past include: "Inexpensive, and built to stay that way" (USA 1970s – early 1980s), "The World's Favourite Four Wheel Drive" (in the UK), "Plus on y pense, plus on a le goût de la conduire" (French: "The more you think about it, the more you want to drive it.") in French Quebec,Subaru Legacy Canada sales brochure printed January 1990 "We built our reputation by building a better car", "What to Drive", "The Beauty of All-Wheel Drive", "Driven by What's Inside", "Think, Feel, Drive", "Confidence in Motion" (USA early 2010s) and currently "Love. It's what makes Subaru, Subaru" in North America, "All 4 The Driver" in Australia, "Uncommon Engineering, Uncommon Stability, Uncommon Roadholding, Uncommon Sense" in the UK and "Technology that gives you Confidence in Motion" in Southeast Asia.
In the 1990s, an ad firm hired by Subaru America found the all-wheel-drive cars were popular among lesbians in the US. The company started including subtle marketing to this demographic.
According to Automotive Lease Guide, Subaru ranked second place in vehicles that have the highest overall predicted resale values among all industry and all luxury vehicles for MY 2009. The awards are derived after carefully studying segment competition, historical vehicle performance and industry trends. According to a study done by J.D. Power and Associates for the 2008 Customer Retention Study, Subaru ranked at 50.5%, which was above the national average of 48%.
Subaru launched an animation series Wish Upon the Pleiades, also known as , developed jointly with Gainax. The 4-part mini episode series was released on YouTube on 1 February 2011. It featured a magical girl plot with Subaru as a leading protagonist.
Current operations Subaru's corporate headquarters are located in Ebisu, Tokyo.
Manufacturing facilities Subaru is distinct from many of its Japanese competitors in that as of early 2016 almost 75% of its cars sold internationally were made in Japan. Subaru's facilities designated to automotive manufacturing are located in Ōta, Gunma Prefecture, consisting of four locations: Subaru-chō is where the Subaru BRZ/Toyota 86 is built; having been re-purposed from kei car production, Yajima Plant is where all current Subaru cars are built; Otakita Plant is where commercial kei trucks are built (originally a factory location of Nakajima Aircraft Company); and Oizumi Plant in Oizumi, Gunma Prefecture, is where engines and transmissions are built.
Subaru's major overseas manufacturing facility is located in Lafayette, Indiana; the factory is called Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. Due to continued sales growth in North American markets, vehicle production capacity at the Lafayette assembly plant is set to expand to 390,000 vehicles annually. Under the current strategic plan, Subaru will have a total production capacity of 1,026,000 vehicles per year at the end of 2016.
Subaru in Asia In some Asian countries outside of Japan, Subaru vehicles, parts and accessories are supplied by Motor Image Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tan Chong Motor.
Subaru has entered the Philippine operations started in 1996 under the Columbian Motors Philippines ownership but withdrew in 2000. Subaru models were temporarily sold in GM Autoworld dealerships from 2000 to 2005. The brand re-entered the market in 2006 under the new management by Motor Image Pilipinas, Inc. Subaru has seventeen dealerships in the country: Greenhills, Pasig, Manila Bay, Alabang, Davao, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Santa Rosa, Batangas, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, General Santos, Cavite, Legazpi, Albay, Camarines Sur, Bacolod, and Pampanga. Subaru has seen popularity in its SUV line-up in the market in recent years, with the Forester and the XV being one of its popular selling models.
Subaru cars has been exported to China since 2004. In 2011, Subaru and Chinese automaker Chery intended to establish a 50-50 joint venture to produce Subaru vehicles in China. The plan was to establish a 30 billion yen facility in Dalian, Liaoning with initial annual capacity of 50,000 cars, that would later expand to 150,000 units. The initial joint venture proposal was rejected by Chinese authorities, as FHI affiliate Toyota already has two joint ventures in China, which is the maximum amount allowed. Later in 2012, the proposal was rejected for the second time due to production overcapacity in the country.
Subaru once had a presence in South Korea, established in 2009 in Yongsan, Seoul under Choi Seung-dal. Sales started in April 2010 with the Legacy, Outback and Forester as the initial lineup for the South Korean market. They were the fifth Japanese automobile manufacturer to enter after Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi. According to the company, it delayed its entry due to market dominance by Hyundai and Kia. By 2012, Subaru Korea announced that they would discontinue selling 2013 car models due to low sales.