Subaru History

Shibuya , Tokyo, Japan

Subaru is a Japanese automobile brand and the automotive division of the company Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) as from 1958.

History

Fuji Heavy Industries was established on July 15, 1953, and the first prototype P1 was built in 1954The brand name "Subaru," which literally means together or join the same constellation of the Pleiades the six brightest stars in Japan make up the well-known constellation Subaru. was chosen for the company's future cars. 

The Subaru 360 was the brand's first automobile, being equipped with a two-cylinder, two-stroke engine and rear-wheel drive in series in 1958. In the upcoming years, more vehicles with two-wheel drive (2WD) will be produced. Subaru produced its first 4-cylinder boxer engine ever in 1966, which was initially included into the Subaru 1000. The first front-wheel-drive Japanese production vehicle was the Subaru 1000.

 In 1972, the Japanese electricity company Tohoku Electric Su Company made an order for a four-wheel-drive automobile to safely climb the snow-capped mountains of Japan and carry out maintenance work on the power lines. In order to be able to comply with the requirements of budget and car format, they built the front-wheel drive Coupe Subaru Leone and building on the combination Leone Station Wagon 4WD with switchable four-wheel drive and boxer engine. Subaru was awarded the contract and the Leone was exported from 1973 to the United States. From 1979, the advanced version L1800 4WD was available in Switzerland. To this day, Switzerland is an important market for Subaru alongside the main markets USA and Australia; The Swiss cantonal police also use Subaru models. Subaru is the world's most successful and largest manufacturer of all-wheel-drive cars. By 2008, it had sold over ten million four-wheel-drive vehicles and manufactured more than 15 million boxer engines.

 Subaru attaches great importance to their own designs. Subaru is known for its vehicles with permanent all-wheel drive, called the Subaru Symmetrical AWD and for the use of boxer engines, which contribute to the low centre of gravity of the vehicle due to the low height and the design-related good mass balance are very smooth running. Also typical of Subaru were the frameless side windows, which have been completely omitted since 2009 for safety reasons.

From 2000 to October 2005, General Motors held a 20% stake in Fuji Heavy Industries and several car models were jointly developed and marketed.  For example, the Saab 9-2X based on the Subaru Impreza, or the Subaru Traviq based on the Opel Zafira. Also planned was the introduction of a new model of the Subaru Justy based on the Opel Corsa and a new Saab SUV based on the Subaru B9 Tribeca, which was then but not realized. Since October 2005 there is a cooperation between Fuji Heavy Industries and Toyota Motor Corporation. Toyota has held a minority stake of 16.5% in Fuji Heavy Industries since April 2008. Together, various new models are to be developed. As a first result of this new cooperation, the Daihatsu Sirion Toyota subsidiary. However, after the end of General Motors' participation in Fuji Heavy Industries, this collaboration was also terminated (Suzuki was also partially owned by General Motors). In the US, the same car was marketed under the name Geo Metro.

Since 2008, Subaru also has a diesel engine in the program. It is a boxer engine with 2.0 litres displacement and common rail injection. To date, this engine is the world's only boxer diesel. After only 12 years in 2020, the sale of diesel vehicles should be completely discontinued. Likewise, all development. For some years Subaru vehicles of all series could be delivered on request with an LPG system ex works. In recurring actions Subaru offered these ecomatic versions to customers without additional charge. The LPG conversion is however u. a. due to the presence of a diesel engine offering and the homologation problems for the Euro 5 emissions standard no longer in the program. 

Subaru rallies since the 1970s, including the Leone 1800 Turbo Hardtop Coupe (EA81), the Subaru Vivi and the Leone Turismo Turbo (EA82). 1990 Subaru began on the World Rally Championship WRC (World Rally Championship) to participate. It was initially modified versions of the Subaru Legacy and from 1993 the Subaru Impreza used, which were built at the motorsport specialist Prodrive. In addition, in 1995 Colin McRae, 2001 Richard Burns and 2003 Petter Solberg each won the drivers' championship of the WRC. On December 16, 2008, Subaru announced its withdrawal from the WRC, just one day after Suzuki. As a reason for the end of almost 20 years of engagement, the economic crisis was stated. Subaru entered the short term in the Formula 1 season in 1990 as a competitor. The parent company Fuji Heavy had acquired the majority of the Italian Formula 1 team Coloni SpA in the winter of 1989/90 and equipped the team with its own engine, the Subaru MM 3512.Subaru tried to get a prestigious Formula 1 team as a customer, but this did not succeed.