News: Subaru has been around for 70 years

Since its inception, the company has expanded into several industries, with automobiles as its core business, as well as aerospace, industrial products, environmental technology, bus manufacturing and manufactured housing. Today, automobiles and aerospace are the two pillars of the company.

In the automotive field, the company introduced its first car in 1958, the Subaru 360, a small car designed to fulfill the Japanese government’s concept of a ‘people’s car’. Since then, Subaru has continued to offer unique technologies and products, such as the Leone, the world’s first mass-produced all-wheel drive (AWD) vehicle.

Over the years, Subaru has received great support from customers around the world, with total production of 20 million all-wheel drive (AWD) vehicles in 2021 and total sales of 5 million Subaru vehicles with EyeSight in 2022.

In the aerospace field, since the first flight of Japan’s first airplane, the T-1, in 1958, the company has strengthened its technology by participating in domestic aircraft development programs and international development programs. Subaru will continue to grow with three main businesses: defense programs, commercial programs such as the Boeing 787 and helicopter programs such as the UH-2.

Under the new management team that took office in June this year, the Subaru Group aims to work together as one team to overcome this time of great change in the automotive industry and strive for further growth.

A brief history of Subaru Corporation:

• 1917: Chikuhei Nakajima establishes the Aircraft Research Laboratory.
• 1918: Aircraft Research Laboratory is named Nakajima Aircraft Factory (later incorporated as Nakajima Aircraft Co., Ltd. in 1931).
• (1945: Nakajima Aircraft Co Ltd is reorganized as Fuji Sangyo Co Ltd and changes from producing aircraft to non-producing civil products
• 1950: Pursuant to the Company Reorganization Act, Fuji Sangyo Co., Ltd. are established. is divided into 12 companies, including Fuji Kogyo, Fuji Jidosha Kogyo and Utsunomiya Sharyo.
• 1953: Five of the 12 companies, including Fuji Kogyo, contributed capital to establish Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (Fuji Heavy Industries later acquired and merged with five companies in 1955).
• 2017: Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. it is called Subaru Corporation.

Origin of the name Subaru

Subaru is the Japanese name for the Pleiades constellation in the Taurus constellation, also called “Mutsuraboshi” (Six Stars) in Japan. With the history that Fuji Heavy Industry was founded with capital contributions from five companies rooted in Nakajima Aircraft, and later acquired and merged these five companies, the company has adopted the Subaru name for its cars to symbolize the union and unity of the six companies. . Subaru was the first brand to use a Japanese name for its cars.