The days of Subaru
This week, we turn our spotlight on Subaru, one of the icons of Japanese quality that has quietly made its mark over the decades.
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Currently ranked in the top 20 biggest automakers by volume, Subaru is the automobile manufacturing division of Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI).
Subaru means “Unite” and is in fact the Japanese name for the Pleiades star cluster, "The Seven Sisters" (one of whom tradition says is invisible - hence the six stars visible in the Subaru logo), and which in turn allude to the six companies that merged to create the FHI group.
The largest of the stars represents Fuji Heavy Industries. The company started out in 1917 in Japan as an aircraft research laboratory but soon moved to producing airplanes.
Fuji Heavy Industries started out as The Aircraft Research Laboratory in 1915, headed by Chikuhei Nakajima. In 1932, the company was reorganised as Nakajima Aircraft Company, Ltd and soon became a major manufacturer of aircraft for Japan during World War II.
At the end of WW2, it was again reorganised, and merged with Fuji Sangyo Company to form the Fuji Heavy Industries we know today.
Kenji Kita, CEO of FHI at the time, wanted the new company to be involved in car manufacturing and soon began plans for building a car.
The first Subaru car was named the Subaru 1500, with only 20 of them being manufactured owing to multiple supply issues. From 1954 to 2008, the company designed and manufactured dozens of vehicle types and models.
Shareholding and marketing
Nissan acquired a 20.4 per cent stake in FHI, Subaru's parent company, in 1968 during a period of government-ordered consolidation of the Japanese auto industry in order to improve competitiveness.
Nissan went on to utilise FHI's bus manufacturing capability and expertise for their Nissan Diesel line of buses. In turn, many Subaru vehicles, even today, use parts from Nissan, an example being Subaru’s automatic transmission (the 4EAT), which was used in the first-generation Nissan Pathfinder.
Toyota Motors bought a little over 40 per cent of GM's stock which it previously held in FHI and relinquished in 2005. Toyota and Subaru have since collaborated on a number of projects, among them building the Toyota Camry in Subaru's Indiana U.S. plant since April 2007. Toyota has since 2008 increased its shareholdings of FHI to 16.5 per cent.
In Western markets, the Subaru brand has traditionally been popular among a dedicated core of buyers, with its marketing targeted towards a specific niche, centred on those who desire the company's signature drive train. Most Subaru models have used the Symmetrical All-Wheel-Drive layout since 1972.
Some of the advertising slogans Subaru has used include "Inexpensive, and built to stay that way", "The World's Favourite Four Wheel Drive" (in the UK), "What to Drive", "The Beauty of All-Wheel Drive", "Technology that gives you Confidence in Motion" in Southeast Asia, and more recently in the US, "Love. It's what makes Subaru, a Subaru".
As a result of this refocused advertising campaign, Subaru products have begun to attract a following among the young and educated, who see the car as a practical alternative to the SUV trend.
Subaru has historically been popular in the north-eastern United States as well as the Pacific Northwest.
It has also consistently ranked second place in overall predicted resale values among all industry and luxury vehicles since the mid-2000’s.
According to J.D. Power and Associates , Subaru ranked at 50.5 per cent (above the national average of 48 per cent) meaning that they retain half of their original value after five years of ownership.
Subaru is also investing in plug-in electric vehicles and hybrids to cater to the growing demand for “green” vehicles. It currently offers the Legacy, Outback, Impreza, Forester and XV/Crosstrek models as Partial Zero Emissions Vehicles (PZEVs), meaning that they meet California's very strict Super-Ultra-Low-Emission Vehicle exhaust emissions standards.
More to follow next week.
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