The History of Subaru: Aircraft Roots, Boxer Engines and AWD

Subaru at a glance

Origins: Nakajima Aircraft and Fuji Heavy Industries

Chikuhei Nakajima founded the Aircraft Research Laboratory in 1917, according to the company's own corporate history. It became the Nakajima Aircraft Factory in 1918 and was incorporated as Nakajima Aircraft Co., Ltd. in 1931. The firm grew into one of Japan's largest aircraft makers. In 1945 it was reorganised as Fuji Sangyo and turned to civilian products. Its first, in 1946, was the Fuji Rabbit scooter, built partly from leftover aircraft parts.

Under post-war law, Fuji Sangyo was split into 12 companies in 1950. In 1953 five of them founded Fuji Heavy Industries, and FHI absorbed all five by 1955. The founding companies were a scooter maker, a bodybuilder, an engine maker, a chassis maker and a trading company. This union is why the Subaru logo shows six stars of the Pleiades, one for each company. According to Subaru, it was the first car brand to use a Japanese name for its vehicles.

History by era

1954–1969: P-1, the 360 and the first boxer

Under FHI's head Kenji Kita, engineers built the P-1 prototype, later called the Subaru 1500. Supply problems meant that only 20 were made in 1954. The real start came in 1958 with the Subaru 360, a small air-cooled car for Japan's kei class. The Sambar van and pickup followed in 1961. In the mid-1960s the Subaru 1000 introduced the first Subaru boxer engine. The R-2 replaced the 360 in 1969.

1970–1988: four-wheel drive enters the mainstream

The Leone arrived in 1971 together with the Rex kei car. In 1972 the company added four-wheel drive to a Leone estate, the start of what it now calls Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive. The quirky BRAT pickup appeared in 1978 and the Alcyone coupé in 1985. Subaru of America, founded in 1968, became fully owned by FHI in 1990.

1989–2008: Legacy, Impreza, Forester and the rally years

The Legacy of 1989 lifted the brand into the mid-size class, and the same year a joint plant with Isuzu opened in Lafayette, Indiana. The Subaru Legacy also spawned the Outback. The Impreza followed in 1992, with the turbocharged WRX at the top of the range. The Forester crossover came in 1997. By the mid-1990s all-wheel drive was standard on most of its cars sold worldwide. Isuzu sold its share of the Indiana plant in 2001.

2008–2016: EyeSight, BRZ and record sales

EyeSight, a driver-assistance system using two cameras, appeared in 2008. In March 2012 the company built its last kei vehicle, a Sambar, after 54 years, and later sold rebadged Daihatsu kei cars instead. The Subaru BRZ, developed with Toyota, went on sale in January 2012 as the only rear-wheel-drive model in the range. The Subaru Impreza 4 of 2011 brought the new FB boxer engines to the compact class.

2017 to today: Subaru Corporation and electric cars

On 1 April 2017 Fuji Heavy Industries became Subaru Corporation, a century after Nakajima's start, to bring the company name in line with the brand. For the year to March 2017, the company expected consolidated sales of 1,050,000 vehicles, its first year above one million. A plant in Thailand opened on 23 April 2019 as a joint venture. The first all-electric Subaru, the Solterra, was shown on 17 November 2021 and shares its body and battery with the Toyota bZ4X.

Subaru timeline

Landmark models compared: from the 360 to the BRZ

The Outback, sold in many markets as a raised Legacy estate, has been a key model in North America. Its story is on the Subaru Outback page.

Rally titles and engineering firsts

The Impreza became one of the most successful rally cars of the 1990s. The team won the World Rally Championship for manufacturers three times in a row, from 1995 to 1997. Colin McRae (1995), Richard Burns (2001) and Petter Solberg (2003) won the drivers' title in Subaru cars. On 16 December 2008 Subaru announced its withdrawal from the WRC. The limited Impreza 22B STi of 1998 celebrated the title years.

The engineering idea behind most of these cars is simple. A flat, longitudinally mounted boxer engine sits low and in line with the gearbox, and drive shafts of equal length send power to all four wheels. The company calls this symmetry the basis of its handling and stability. By 2022, more than five million cars with EyeSight had been sold.

Owners, partners and factories

The company has always been independent but has relied on larger partners. Nissan bought 20.7 % of FHI in 1968. According to the old 1cars text, FHI supplied it with technology, including the 4EAT automatic used in the first Nissan Pathfinder. After Renault's alliance with Nissan in 1999, that stake passed to General Motors. GM sold out in 2005, when Toyota bought 8.7 % of FHI, and Toyota raised its holding to 16.5 % in July 2008. In the GM years, the Opel Zafira was sold in Japan as the Subaru Traviq.

Most of the cars are still made in Japan. In early 2016 almost 75 % of the cars it sold abroad came from Japanese plants. The Ōta complex in Gunma includes the Yajima plant for passenger cars and the Oizumi plant for engines and transmissions. Subaru of Indiana Automotive in Lafayette builds models for North America.

Current model line-up

Line-ups vary by market. Every model on 1cars is listed in the Subaru catalogue, and the 1cars car finder helps narrow down all-wheel-drive models by size and budget.

Subaru in numbers

The company built 912,452 vehicles in 2023 and employed 16,961 people in 2022. Compared with the forecast of 1,050,000 sales for the year to March 2017, the company's first year above one million, the 2023 output was about 13 % lower by our calculation. The brand is sold in more than 90 countries. To compare one of its models with rivals from other brands, use the 1cars comparison tool.

Which Subaru to choose

The Forester and Outback suit families who need all-weather traction and space. The Impreza and Crosstrek are the budget entry to Symmetrical AWD. The BRZ is the pick for driving enthusiasts, and the WRX for buyers who want turbo performance with four doors. Older WRX and STi models are collectable, but check service records carefully, because many were driven hard.

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