Product Code Database
or ; is the [[automobile manufacturing division|automaker]] 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 flat 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 Subaru BRZ, introduced in 2012 via a partnership with Toyota, which pairs the boxer engine with rear-wheel-drive, and the Subaru Uncharted, slated to be introduced in 2026 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 their passenger cars, such as the Subaru WRX, Subaru Levorg, Subaru Outback, Subaru Ascent, and formerly the Subaru Legacy, Subaru Legacy, and Subaru Forester.
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.
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 Subaru Sambar (1961), and the 1000 (which saw the introduction of the Subaru boxer engine in 1965).
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 their corporate board. During that time, Subaru introduced the Subaru Baja (2003), and the Subaru 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 Subaru 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 their 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 Subaru Exiga in 2008.
Toyota increased their 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 they would no longer develop their own Kei car, instead selling rebadged products from Toyota's Daihatsu subsidiary. This also allowed Subaru, a small manufacturer, to focus on their 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.
In the 1990s, an ad firm hired by Subaru America found the all-wheel-drive cars were popular among 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 'After School Pleiades', 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.
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 has entered the Philippines 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 City, Cebu City, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo City, Santa Rosa, Batangas, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, General Santos, Cavite, Legazpi, Albay, Camarines Sur, Bacolod, and Pampanga. Subaru has seen popularity in their SUV line-up in the market in recent years, with the Subaru Forester and the Subaru XV being one of their 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 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, they delayed their 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.
On 23 April 2019, Subaru officially opened its production plant in Lat Krabang, Bangkok, Thailand, the plant is a joint venture between Subaru Corporation and Hong Kong-listed Tan Chong International (TCIL), which holds a 74.9 percent stake. The plant was formerly a Mitsubishi Fuso factory that was repurposed, and will supply Subaru vehicle to markets in Asia, including Australia and New Zealand. According to media interview with Glenn Tan, the plant will have a maximum capacity of 100,000 vehicles per year, and up to a maximum of 4 models to be manufactured. Current production in 2019 is planned for 6,000 vehicles for Forester model only.
Indonesia has been supported by PT Plaza Auto Mega since February 2020.
In 1989, Subaru and then-partner Isuzu opened a joint factory in Lafayette, Indiana, called Subaru-Isuzu Automotive, or SIA, which initially manufactured the Subaru Legacy and Isuzu Rodeo. In 2001 Isuzu sold their stake in the plant to Fuji Heavy Industries for $1 due to flagging sales and it was renamed Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. SIA has been designated backyard wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation and has achieved a zero-landfill production designation (the first automotive assembly plant in the United States to earn that designation).
Modified versions of the Impreza WRX and WRX STi have been competing successfully in rallying. Drivers Colin McRae (1995), Richard Burns (2001) and Petter Solberg (2003) have won World Rally Championship drivers' titles with the Subaru World Rally Team and Subaru took the manufacturers' title three years in a row from 1995 to 1997. Subaru's 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 Subaru Legacy. The Subaru Justy also holds the world record for the fastest sub 1.0L car without a turbo: 123.224 mph average, it was set in 1989.
Subaru was briefly involved in Formula One circuit racing when it bought a controlling interest in the tiny Italian Coloni team for the 1990 season. The Coloni 3B's 12-cylinder engine was badged as a Subaru and shared the boxer layout with the company's own engines, but was an existing design built by Italian firm Motori Moderni. The cars were overweight and underpowered and the partnership broke down before the season finished.Subaru Performance magazine version 4.3 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. Subaru supplied a factory-backed team, Subaru Rally Team USA for Rally America and won the driver's title six times, most recently in 2011 with David Higgins. Grassroots Motorsports awarded Subaru with the Editors' Choice Award in 2002.
Since 2005, Cusco Racing have entered an Impreza and a Subaru BRZ in the Super GT championship. In 2008, the Impreza was the first 4-door and first 4WD vehicle to win a race.
Starting in 2006, Subaru of America (SOA), as the official distributor of Subaru vehicles in the United States participates in the Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT) with a Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT Spec-B in the Grand-Am Street Tuner class. In 2010, SRRT campaigns a Subaru Impreza WRX STI in the Grand Sport class. In 2011, SRRT switched from the hatchback to a 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX STI sedan.
On 16 December 2008, it was announced that Subaru would no longer be competing in the World Rally Championships. The decision was made by Subaru's parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI), partly as a result of the economic downturn but also because it was felt Subaru had achieved its sporting and marketing objectives. Ikuo Mori denied that alterations to the WRC technical regulations in 2010 or a rumored deterioration in the working relationship with Prodrive had any impact on the decision. He also said that the possibility of a Subaru car back in the top category of WRC in the future is not zero, but for this moment there can be no assumption of a comeback.
In 2011, Mark Higgins used a stock Impreza to set a lap record at the Isle of Man TT course. In 2016, Higgins again broke the record in a modified WRX STI.
On 4 May 2012, Subaru Rally Team USA announced that a new rallycross team, Subaru Puma SE Rallycross Team USA, will participate in the 2012 Global RallyCross Championship season with Dave Mirra, Bucky Lasek, and Sverre Isachsen. They also competed in the 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship.
Also in 2012, Subaru became the naming rights sponsor of the chief domestic road cycling competition in Australia, the National Road Series.
The Impreza has won hillclimbs such as the Silverstone Race to the Sky and Mount Washington Hillclimb Auto Race.
As of 2022, Subaru sold 5 million cars equipped with the system, and EyeSight-equipped vehicles account for 91% of total vehicle sales. In the U.S., the EyeSight system is standard on most models equipped with CVTs, and is also standard on automatic transmission BRZ models.
Unlike some other manufacturers (e.g. Toyota), Subaru North America has not provided clear and consistent branding of their Eyesight generations – though some versions are referenced in their owners manuals. This makes it challenging to distinguish key differences, performance, and improvements among model years. Much more detailed information is available in the Japanese EyeSight article.
The Subaru engine was rated at and with a displacement of 2.0 liters. In March 2008 Subaru offered the Legacy Sedan and Wagon and the Outback Wagon with 2.0 liter turbodiesel in the European Union with a 5-speed manual transmission.
In September 2008, Subaru announced that the diesel Forester and diesel Impreza will be introduced at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, with Forester sales to begin October 2008 and diesel Impreza sales to start January 2009 in the UK. The Forester and Impreza will have a 6-speed manual transmission, whereas the Legacy and Outback have 5-speed manual transmissions.
In Japan, Subaru tested two electric vehicles called the Subaru R1e and Subaru G4e between 2003 and 2009.
The Subaru Hybrid Tourer Concept is a four-seat vehicle with that combines a 2-liter turbocharged direct-injection gasoline engine with a continuously variable transmission and two axle-mounted motors. A lithium-ion battery pack provides energy storage for the vehicle.
In early 2018, Subaru, along with Suzuki, Daihatsu and Hino Motors, joined the nascent EV C.A. Spirit venture to collaborate on electric vehicle technology development. The project was launched by Toyota, Mazda and automotive component manufacturer Denso in September 2017.
In the U.S., the short-lived Crosstrek hybrid was on the market only for the 2014 to 2017 model years. In 2018, for the 2019 model year, Subaru unveiled the 2019 model year Crosstrek Plug-in Hybrid, based in large part on technology from shareholder Toyota's Prius Prime platform. The EV range is . It is only available in California and parts of the East Coast.
Subaru's first all-electric car, named Subaru Solterra, is the first vehicle to be based on the e-Subaru Global Platform (e-SGP) co-developed by Toyota and Subaru. The Solterra debuted at the Los Angeles Auto Show on 17 November 2021, and worldwide sales of the Solterra commenced in mid-2022.
Clarion and Harman Kardon are among the audio, video, and navigation technology suppliers for Subaru products in North America. Clarion announced in 2015 that it was introducing its "Smart Access" platform, formerly only offered on Clarion's aftermarket products, to the units to be installed in certain Subaru 2015 models in North America. Smart Access is able to work with the driver's smartphone (either iPhone or Android) and allows access to various car-safe apps running on the phone via the car's built-in infotainment screen. Subaru and Clarion have also, with Liberty Mutual Insurance, introduced the "RightTrack" in-vehicle app which will be able to monitor the driver's habits, make suggestions for safer driving, and possibly offer insurance discounts.
An excerpt from the Subaru website stated "In 2006, SIA was awarded the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Gold Achievement Award as a top achiever in the agency's WasteWise program to reduce waste and improve recycling." The website also stated that "It also became the first U.S. automotive assembly plant to be designated a wildlife habitat."
Subaru currently offers Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle (PZEV) certified Legacy, Outback, Impreza, Crosstrek 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. All other models have been certified LEV2.
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