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is the automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI), the twenty-second biggest automaker by production worldwide in 2012.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.oica.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/worldpro2012-modification-ranking.pdf )〕 Subaru cars are softroaders; they are known for the use of a boxer engine layout in most vehicles above 1500 cc. Most Subaru models have used the Symmetrical All Wheel Drive drive-train layout since 1972. The flat/boxer engine and all-wheel-drive became standard equipment for mid-size and smaller cars in most international markets by 1996, and is now standard in most North American market Subaru vehicles. The lone exception is the BRZ, introduced in 2012, which uses the boxer engine but instead uses a rear-wheel-drive structure. Subaru also offers turbocharged versions of their passenger cars, such as the Impreza WRX and the Legacy 2.5GT. The 2.5XT trims of the Outback and Forester also include a turbocharged engine. In Western markets, the Subaru brand has traditionally been popular among a dedicated core of buyers. Marketing is targeted towards a specific niche centered around those who desire the company's signature drive-train. ''Subaru'' is the Japanese name for 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. ==History== Fuji Heavy Industries started out as ''The Aircraft Research Laboratory'' in 1915, headed by Chikuhei Nakajima. In 1932, the company was reorganized as ''Nakajima Aircraft Company, Ltd'' and soon became a major manufacturer of aircraft for Japan during World War II. At the end of the Second World War Nakajima Aircraft was again reorganized, this time as ''Fuji Sangyo Co, Ltd''. In 1946, the company created the Fuji Rabbit motor scooter with spare aircraft parts from the war. In 1950, Fuji Sangyo was divided into 12 smaller corporations according to the Japanese Government's 1950 Corporate Credit Rearrangement Act, anti-zaibatsu legislation. Between 1953 and 1955, four of these corporations and a newly formed corporation ''Fuji Kogyo'', a scooter manufacturer; coachbuilders ''Fuji Jidosha''; engine manufacturers ''Omiya Fuji Kogyo''; chassis builders ''Utsunomiya Sharyo'' and the ''Tokyo Fuji Dangyo'' trading company decided to merge to form the ''Fuji Heavy Industries'' known today. 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. Mr. Kita canvassed the Company for suggestions about naming the P1, but none of the proposals was appealing enough. In the end he gave the car a Japanese name that he had "been cherishing in his heart": Subaru, which is the name of the Pleiades star cluster in Japanese. The first Subaru car was named the Subaru 1500. Only twenty P1s were manufactured owing to multiple supply issues. From 1954 to 2008 the company designed and manufactured dozens of vehicles including the 1500 (1954), the tiny air-cooled 360 (1958), the Sambar (1961), the 1000 (which saw the introduction of the Subaru boxer engine in 1965), the R-2 (1969), the Rex and the Leone (1971), the BRAT (1978), Alcyone (1985), the Legacy (1989), the Impreza (1993), the Forester (1997), the Tribeca (2005), the Exiga (2008), and the BRZ (2012). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Subaru」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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