Subaru

Subaru
250px
Type	Division of Fuji Heavy Industries
Founded	FHI established July 7, 1953 first Subaru car introduced 1954
Founder	Kenji Kita Chikuhei Nakajima (predecessor)
Headquarters	Ota, 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
Slogan	Think. Feel. Drive. Advanced Driving Technology It's what makes a Subaru, a Subaru.
Website	www.subaru-global.com

For other uses, see Subaru (disambiguation).

Subaru (スバル, Subaru) is the automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate Fuji 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.

Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent company of Subaru, is currently in a partnership with Toyota Motor Corporation, which owns 16.5% of FHI.

Subaru Star Cluster

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. In Japan, the company also goes by the name Mutsuraboshi ("Six Stars"), under which title it appears frequently in very old Japanese documents such as Kojiki and Man'yōshū and literature such as Makura no Sōshi.

History

Subaru's previous logo.

FHI started out as "The Aircraft Research Laboratory" in 1917 headed by Chikuhei Nakajima. In 1931, the company was reorganized as "Nakajima Aircraft Company, Ltd", the main airplane manufacturer for Japan in WWII.

At the end of the Second World War, Nakajima Aircraft was again reorganized, this time as Fuji Sangyo Co, Ltd. In 1946, Fuji Sangyo created the Fuji Rabbit 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 Corporate Credit Rearrangement Act (anti-zaibatsu legislation), but between 1953-1955, four of these corporations and a newly formed corporation, known as Fuji Kogyo (a scooter manufacturer}, Fuji Jidosha (a coachbuilder specializing in bus manufacture), Omiya Fuji Kogyo (an engine manufacurer), Utsunomiya Sharyo (a chassis manufacturer) and Tokyo Fuji Dangyo (a trading company), decided to merge together to form the Fuji Heavy Industries we know today.

Kenji Kita, the CEO of Fuji Heavy Industries at the time, wanted the new company to be involved in car manufacturing, and chose the name Subaru to grace its first car, the Subaru P1 in 1954. Mr. Kita canvassed the Company for suggestions about naming the P-1, but none of the proposals was appealing. In the end, Mr. Kita gave the car a Japanese name that had been his personal favorite from childhood --- Subaru. From 1954 to 2008, the company designed and manufactured dozens of vehicles including the P1 (1954), the tiny air-cooled 360 (1958), the Sambar (1961), the 1000 (1965), the R2 (1969), the Leone (1971), the Domingo (1983), the Alcyone (1985), the Legacy (1989), the Impreza (1993), the Sambar EV electric van (1995), the Forester (1997), the Tribeca (2005), and the Subaru Exiga in 2008.

1965 Subaru 360

Major shareholders

On October 5, 2005 Toyota Motor Corporation purchased 8.7% of FHI shares from General Motors who had owned 20.1% of FHI since 1999. GM later divested its remaining 11.4% stake, selling its shares on the open market to sever all ties with FHI. FHI previously stated that there might have been 27 million shares (3.4%) acquired before the start of trading by an unknown party on October 6, 2005, and speculation suggested that a bank or perhaps another automaker was involved. After the purchase, Toyota announced a contract with Subaru on March 13, 2006 to use the underutilized Subaru manufacturing facility in Lafayette, Indiana, and Toyota announced plans to hire up to 1,000 workers and set aside an assembly line for the Camry model, beginning in spring 2007.

Before GM's ownership, Nissan had acquired the 20% stake in 1968 during a period of government-ordered merging of Japanese auto industry to merge in order for improved competitiveness under the administration of Prime Minister Eisaku Sato. Nissan would utilize FHI's bus manufacturing capability and expertise for their 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. Speculation has suggested that it was Subaru that introduced Renault to Nissan, when Nissan asked for assistance in all-wheel drive (AWD) technology, and when FHI might have suggested that Renault discuss their plans with Nissan, the discussions may have been a contributing factor to the currently successful Renault-Nissan alliance. Upon Nissan's acquisition by Renault, its 20% stake was sold to General Motors.

During the General Motors period, a modified Impreza was sold in the United States as the Saab 9-2X. A SUV (Subaru Tribeca / SAAB 9-6X) was also plannedbut the SAAB version did not proceed.

Marketing efforts

In 1965, Malcolm Bricklin started selling franchises for motor scooters that included the Fuji Rabbit and the tiny Subaru 360. Bricklin made a deal with Subaru to introduce those cars to the United States. Malcolm and his partner, Harvey Lamm, formed Subaru of America, Inc. to sell Subaru franchises. It marked the beginning of the Japanese influx.

In the 1970s, the company moved away from small commercial vehicles and concentrated on the development of mainstream passenger car models, and when Subaru introduced the Legacy in 1989, it was well received. The Legacy was considered mainstream in its appearance and a departure from previous vehicles, which had earned a reputation of being "quirky". It was perceived by some as Subaru's attempt to compete with new luxury brands Lexus, Infiniti and Acura, as Japanese vehicles were increasing in popularity, particularly in the USA. Subaru continued their new direction with the controversially styled six-cylinder SVX (1992), and the Impreza (1993).

From 1995 to 2000, Subaru ran a series of advertisements for the newly developed Subaru Outback which starred Paul Hogan. The advertisements were intended to highlight Subaru's all wheel drive, and depicted the Outback in a number of rugged Australian locations. The tagline "the world's first sport utility wagon" was successfully used by Subaru, though the AMC Eagle had tried much the same idea, with less success in the 1980s. Some of the advertising slogans Subaru has used in the past include, "Inexpensive, and built to stay that way", "The World's Favorite Four Wheel Drive" (in the U.K.), "We're building our reputation by building a better car", "The beauty of all-wheel-drive", "Think, Feel, Drive", and currently "It's what makes a Subaru, a Subaru".

As a result of this refocused advertising campaign, Subaru products began to attract a following among the young and educated, and as a lightweight, affordable, economical SUV alternative to the likes of the Ford Bronco and Jeep Wagoneer or the exclusive Volvo. Subaru has historically been popular in US regions such as the Pacific Northwest , the North American Rocky Mountains region, and especially in New England, with relatively high resale values and owner loyalty rates in those regions. However, facing pressure from competition from the large Japanese brands, Subaru began to market only AWD cars and wagons for the American market. The Subaru Outback wagon, based on the Legacy and modified with SUV-like stance, bumpers, and roof, became one of the best selling wagons in the US during the 2000s.

Subaru Impreza Rally Car

Motorsports

Modified versions of the Impreza WRX and WRX STi have been competing successfully in car rallies; drivers Colin McRae, Richard Burns and Petter Solberg have won World Rally Championship titles with the Subaru World Rally Team. The Subaru World Rally Championship cars are prepared and run by Prodrive, the highly successful British Motorsport team. Several endurance records were set in the early and mid-nineties by the Legacy.

For the 1990 Formula 1 season, Subaru fielded the Subaru Coloni C3B. It featured a 12 cylinder boxer engine, but was not competitive because of horsepower and weight disadvantages. With the rise of rally racing, and the Import scene in the US, the introduction of the highly anticipated Subaru Impreza WRX in 2001 was successful in bringing high performance, AWD compact cars into the sports car mainstream.

Diesel

Subaru displayed a variable vane, common rail turbodiesel boxer engine at the 2007 Frankfurt International Motor Show. It is the world's first production horizontally-opposed water-cooled diesel engine. Volkswagen made only 2 air-cooled boxer prototype diesel engines that were not turbocharged, and installed one engine in a Type 1 and another in a Type 2.

The Subaru engine is rated at 110 kW (147 hp) and 350 Nm (258 ft lb) with a displacement of only 2.0 liters. In March 2008, Subaru will offer the Legacy wagon with the 2.0 liter turbodiesel in the UK with a 5 speed manual transmission only.

EPA fuel economy estimated is:
City Ranges
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Highway Ranges
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According to the Subaru Owners on-line newsletter dated March 2008, Subaru is "currently making modifications to the diesel so it meets the more stringent U.S. standards. Subaru diesel models should be domestically available in two to three years."

Environmental record

Template:Advert Subaru claims to have implemented advanced policies which include recycling, reducing harmful emissions, educating their employees, and continuing their efforts have helped them in their environmental initiatives. The Subaru plant in Lafayette, Indiana (SIA) was the first auto assembly plant to achieve zero landfill status - nothing from its manufacturing efforts goes into a landfill. It's all reused and recycled. This a significant step in the car manufacturing business and plans to have the vehicles they sell in each state meet the standards of California and New York. The company has also developed energy efficient hybrid vehicles as well as a recycling plan for their "end-of-life" cars.

An excerpt from the Subaru website stated "In 2006, SIA was awarded the U.S. EPA's Gold Achievement Award as a top achiever in the agency's WasteWise program to reduce waste and improve recycling." The website also went on to claim, "It also became the first U.S. automotive assembly plant to be designated a wildlife habitat. Deer, coyotes, beavers, blue herons, geese, and other animals live there in peaceful coexistence with the Subaru plant"

Subaru also offers Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle (PZEV) certified Legacy, Outback, and Forester models which are available for sale anywhere in the U.S. Subaru PZEV vehicles meet California's Super-Ultra-Low-Emission Vehicle exhaust emission standard. Subaru PZEV vehicles have 90% cleaner emissions than the average new vehicle.Subaru PZEV vehicles achieve such tight pollution controls, and the burning of fuel is so complete that in very smoggy urban areas, exhaust out of the tailpipe can actually be cleaner than the air outside.According to the EPA, Outback, Forester, and Legacy are among the cleanest and most fuel-efficient vehicles available in the U.S. based on air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and overall fuel economy.

Current models

North America/Europe/Oceania/Middle East/Asia/Japan Subaru models, permanent all wheel drive with boxer engine.

• Exiga introduced in Japan June 2008
• Forester
• Impreza
  • Impreza WRX
  • Impreza WRX STI
• Legacy / Liberty
  • Outback / Grand Wagon / Lancaster
• Tribeca

Some of the following models are also exported to other asian markets besides Japan.(Kei car) , front or all wheel drive, straight engine:

• Pleo
• R1
• R2
• Sambar
• Stella

An article posted by Autoblog on April 16, 2008 stated that due to the corporate investment by Toyota, all kei cars built by Subaru will be replaced by Daihatsu models beginning in 2010

Concept cars

• Subaru SRD-1 Experimental design study introduced in 1990
• 1996 Subaru Exiga
• Subaru B9 Scrambler
• Subaru B11s
• Subaru B5 TPH (Turbo Parallel Hybrid)

December 4, 2007 saw an article claiming that Subaru was considering building a motorcycle, called the Subaru HS500, with a single cylinder 500 cc engine producing 50 hp (37 kW). Subaru HS500

Toyota-Subaru coupe

On April 10, 2008, Toyota approximately doubled its stake in FHI to 16.5%, and announced that Toyota and Subaru are working on a 2-door coupe together, to be released around 2011.

According to an article posted by Autoblog on May 28, 2008, the coupe that Toyota and Subaru are working on together will be sold in Japan only as a Toyota, and internationally as a Subaru. The Subaru version is initially being branded as an Impreza coupe, with the powertrain being described as RWD with the 2.0 liter boxer engine, and optional 2.5 turbo from the WRX STi and AWD. Spy photos of a prototype testing mule were taken in the UK, heavily disguised using Legacy bodywork on a shortened frame.

See also

Subaru Portal

• Prodrive Motorsport team selected by Subaru to run their World Rally Team
• Subaru Tecnica International (also known as STI)
• Subaru VIN codes
• List of Subaru engines
• List of Subaru transmissions
• Subaru EA engine series
• Subaru EF engine series
• Subaru EJ engine series

External links

• Fuji Heavy Industries
• Subaru Global-Homepage
• Subaru World Rally Team Homepage
• Subaru Homepage
• MY 2008 Subaru Impreza video A video from Subaru Canada detailing specifications of the MY08 Impreza
• Subaru Information Research site Detailed specifications, options, and pictures for all Subaru models from 1969 to the present
• Tuning Subaru remapping Subaru cars
• Subaru New Zealand
• Long Island Subaru Club Servicing Nassau and Suffolk County
• Subaru at the Internet Movie Cars Database

Credits

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