company name | Subaru |
---|---|
company logo | |
company type | Division |
slogan | Think. Feel. Drive. Advanced Driving Technology It's what makes a Subaru, a Subaru. |
founder | Kenji Kita Chikuhei Nakajima (predecessor) |
foundation | FHI established July 7, 1953 first Subaru car introduced 1954 |
location | Ōta, Gunma, Japan |
industry | Automobile manufacturing |
products | Subaru automobiles, Toyota automobiles assembled under contract |
parent | Fuji Heavy Industries |
homepage | Subaru Global }} |
; is the automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI).
Subaru is internationally known for their use of the boxer engine layout popularized in cars by the Volkswagen Beetle and Porsche 911, in most of their vehicles above 1500cc as well as their use of the all wheel drive drivetrain layout, first introduced in 1972, that became standard equipment for mid-size and smaller cars in most international markets as of 1996, and is now standard in all Subaru vehicles. They also offer many turbocharged versions of their passenger cars, such as the sporty Impreza WRX.
Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent company of Subaru, is currently in a partial partnership with Toyota Motor Corporation, which owns 16.5% of FHI.
Subaru is the Japanese name for the Pleiades star cluster, which in turn inspires the Subaru logo and alludes to the six companies that merged to create FHI.
Kenji Kita, the 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 were 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 due 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), and the Exiga (2008).
On October 5, 2005 Toyota Motor Corporation purchased 8.7% of FHI shares from General Motors who had owned 20.1% of FHI since 1999. GM later divested its remaining 11.4% stake, selling its shares on the open market to sever all ties with FHI. FHI previously stated that there might have been 27 million shares (3.4%) acquired before the start of trading by an unknown party on October 6, 2005, and speculation suggested that a bank or perhaps another automaker was involved. After the purchase, Toyota announced a contract with Subaru on March 13, 2006 to use the underutilized Subaru manufacturing facility in Lafayette, Indiana, and Toyota announced plans to hire up to 1,000 workers and set aside an assembly line for the Camry model, beginning in the second quarter of 2007.
During the brief General Motors period, a "badge engineered" 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.
In 1989, Subaru and then-partner Isuzu opened a joint factory in Lafayette, Indiana called Subaru-Isuzu Automotive, Inc., or SIA, which initially manufactured the Subaru Legacy and Isuzu Rodeo. In 2001, Isuzu sold their stake in the plant to FHI for $1 due to flagging sales and it was renamed Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc. SIA has been designated a backyard wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation and has achieved a zero-landfill production designation.
Subaru Canada, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries of Japan. Headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, the company markets and distributes Subaru vehicles, parts and accessories through a network of 88 authorized dealers throughout Canada.
From 1995 to 2000, Subaru ran a series of advertisements for the newly developed Subaru Outback which starred Paul Hogan, well known for his "Crocodile Dundee" film character. The advertisements were intended to highlight Subaru's All wheel drive, and depicted the Outback in a number of rugged Australian locations. The tagline "the world's first sport utility wagon" was successfully used by Subaru, though the AMC Eagle had tried much the same idea, with less success in the 1980s.
Before the Outback was introduced, Subaru sold a badge engineered Isuzu Trooper in Japan as the Subaru Bighorn.
Some of the advertising slogans Subaru has used in the past include, "Inexpensive, and built to stay that way", "The World's Favorite Four Wheel Drive" (in the U.K.), "Plus on y pense, plus on a le gout de la conduire" (The more one thinks, the more one has the taste of driving it) in French Quebec, "We built our reputation by building a better car", "What to Drive", "The Beauty of All wheel drive", "Think, Feel, Drive", and currently "Love. It's what makes a Subaru, a Subaru" in North America, "All 4 The Driver" in Australia, and "Uncommon Engineering, Uncommon Stability, Uncommon Roadholding, Uncommon Sense" in the UK.
As a result of this refocused advertising campaign, Subaru products began to attract a following among the young and educated, who saw the car as a practical alternative to the SUV craze. Subaru was among the first automotive companies to market to gays and lesbians in the US. Subaru has historically been popular in the Northeastern United States, as well as the Pacific Northwest. 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%. Harman Kardon is currently the audio supplier for Subaru products worldwide.
Fight Mediocrity!
Subaru has recently created the 2011 Mediocrity car and campaign to illustrate the difference between the current, "boring mid-sized sedan segment" and the "thrilling experience of driving the new 2011 Subaru Legacy". Complete with its own website, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube page, the Mediocrity campaign has been a comedic hit with many viewers.
Hōkago no Pleiades (Original net animation)
Subaru launched an animation series developed jointly with Gainax. The 4-part mini episode series was released on YouTube on February 1, 2011. It featured a magical girl plot with Subaru as a leading protagonist.
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.
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. 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 supplies a factory-backed team for Rally America, and has won the driver's title in each of the series' five seasons.
On 16 December 2008, it was announced that Subaru would no longer be competing in the World Rally Championships, due to the issues with the current global economic crisis, combined with the prospect of a car which still needed development for the 2009 season and a change in regulations for the 2010 season.
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.
The Subaru engine was rated at and with a displacement of 2.0 litres. In March 2008, Subaru offered the Legacy sedan and wagon and the Outback wagon with the 2.0 litre turbodiesel in the EU with a 5 speed manual transmission only.
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. The Forester and Impreza will have a 6 speed manual transmission only, whereas the Legacy and Outback have 5 speed manual transmissions only.
United States Environmental Protection Agency fuel economy estimated is: ;City Ranges : :
;Highway Ranges : :
The fuel economy ratings listed are comparable to the Smart ForTwo.
According to the ''Subaru Owners'' on-line newsletter dated March 2008, Subaru is "currently making modifications to the diesel so it meets the more stringent US standards. Subaru diesel models should be domestically available in two to three years."
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 a Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle (PZEV) certified Legacy, Outback, and Forester models which are available for sale anywhere in the U.S. Other car makers limit vehicles certified as PZEV in states that have adopted California emission standards. Subaru PZEV vehicles meet California's Super-Ultra-Low-Emission Vehicle exhaust emission standard. All other models have been certified LEV2.
In Japan, Subaru is also currently testing two electric vehicles called the Subaru G4e and the Subaru R1e.
Subaru Hybrid Tourer Concept, is a four-seat vehicle with gull-wing doors 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.
An article posted by Autoblog on April 16, 2008 stated that due to the corporate investment by Toyota, all ''kei cars'' built by Subaru will be replaced by Daihatsu models beginning in 2010.
December 4, 2007 saw an article claiming that Subaru was considering building a motorcycle, called the Subaru HS500, with a single cylinder 500 cc engine producing . Subaru HS500
After Toyota approximately doubled its stake in FHI to 16.5%, on April 10, 2008, it was announced that Toyota and Subaru are working on a 2-door coupé together, to be released around 2011.
Category:Car manufacturers of Japan Category:Subaru Category:Motor vehicle manufacturers of Japan Category:Automotive companies of Japan Category:Companies based in Gunma Prefecture Category:Formula One engine manufacturers Category:Companies established in 1953 Category:Electric vehicles
ar:سوبارو az:Subaru be:Subaru ca:Subaru cs:Subaru da:Subaru de:Subaru et:Subaru es:Subaru fa:سوبارو fr:Subaru ko:스바루 hr:Subaru id:Subaru it:Subaru (azienda) he:סובארו lv:Subaru lt:Subaru hu:Subaru ms:Subaru nl:Subaru (automerk) ja:スバル no:Subaru pl:Subaru pt:Subaru ro:Subaru ru:Subaru sco:Subaru simple:Subaru sk:Subaru sr:Субару fi:Subaru sv:Subaru tr:Subaru uk:Subaru zh:速霸陸汽車This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
! Year | ! Car | ! 1 | ! 2 | ! 3 | ! 4 | ! 5 | ! 6 | ! 7 | ! 8 | ! 9 | ! DC | ! Pts |
! Subaru Impreza WRX STi | style="background:#dfffdf;" | style="background:#dfffdf;" | style="background:#ffdf9f;" | style="background:#dfffdf;" | style="background:#ffdf9f;" | style="background:#efcfff;" | style="background:#dfffdf;" | style="background:#ffdf9f;" | ||||
! Subaru Impreza WRX STi | style="background:#ffdf9f;" | style="background:#ffffbf;" | style="background:#ffdf9f;" | style="background:#efcfff;" | style="background:#dfffdf;" | style="background:#efcfff;" | style="background:#efcfff;" | style="background:#ffffbf;" | style="background:#ffdf9f;" | |||
! Subaru Impreza WRX STi | style="background:#dfffdf;" | style="background:#ffffbf;" | style="background:#dfdfdf;" | style="background:#dfffdf;" | style="background:#efcfff;" | style="background:#ffdf9f;" | style="background:#dfdfdf;" | style="background:#ffffbf;" | style="background:#efcfff;" | |||
! Subaru Impreza WRX STi | style="background:#dfffdf;" | style="background:#ffffbf;" | style="background:#ffffbf;" | style="background:#efcfff;" | style="background:#efcfff;" | style="background:#efcfff;" | style="background:#efcfff;" | style="background:#dfffdf;" | style="background:#ffffbf;" | |||
! Subaru Impreza WRX STi | style="background:#efcfff;" | style="background:#ffffbf;" | style="background:#efcfff;" | style="background:#efcfff;" | style="background:#ffffbf;" | style="background:#dfdfdf;" | style="background:#efcfff;" | style="background:#efcfff;" | style="background:#ffdf9f;" | |||
! Ford Fiesta | style="background:#efcfff;" | style="background:#ffffbf;" | style="background:#efcfff;" | style="background:#efcfff;" | style="background:#efcfff;" | style="background:#efcfff;" |
! Year | ! Entrant | ! Car | ! 1 | ! 2 | ! 3 | ! 4 | ! 5 | ! 6 | ! 7 | ! 8 | ! 9 | ! 10 | ! 11 | ! 12 | ! 13 | ! 14 | ! 15 | ! 16 | ! WDC | ! Points |
rowspan=2 | ! Ken Block | Subaru Impreza WRX STI | style="background:#cfcfff;" | NC | 0 | |||||||||||||||
! Rally FaNZ | style="background:#cfcfff;" | |||||||||||||||||||
! Subaru Rally Team USA | ! Subaru Impreza WRX STI | style="background:#cfcfff;" | ! NC | ! 0 | ||||||||||||||||
! Monster World Rally Team | Ford Focus WRC>Ford Focus RS WRC 08 | style="background:#cfcfff;" | style="background:#cfcfff;" | style="background:#efcfff;" | style="background:#efcfff;" | style="background:#cfcfff;" | style="background:#dfffdf;" | style="background:#cfcfff;" | ! 19th | ! 2 | ||||||||||
! Monster World Rally Team | ! Ford Fiesta RS WRC | bgcolor="#CFCFFF" | bgcolor="#CFCFFF" | bgcolor="#CFCFFF" | bgcolor="#CFCFFF" | ! NC* | ! 0* |
In 2005, Ken Block along with his DC Shoes associates participated in the Gumball 3000 Rally. For the event they sent out three modified 2004 Subaru WRX STi's sponsored by DC Shoes.
In 2006, Ken Block competed in the One Lap of America competition along with Brian Scotto. They were teamed up in a 2006 Subaru WRX STi and finished forty-fifth overall.
In 2006, for the Discovery Channel show ''Stunt Junkies'', Ken Block jumped his Subaru WRX STi rally car and a max height of .
Ken Block also holds the world record for the world's fastest snow cat, a modified Subaru STI called a Trax STI.
On September 14, 2010, Block's third Gymkhana video, featuring a Ford Fiesta, was released on YouTube. The video got more than seven million views in its first week.
On August 16, 2011, the fourth Gymkhana video, ''The Hollywood Megamercial'' was released on YouTube, featuring Block driving around the Universal Studios backlot.
Category:American rally drivers Category:World Rally Championship drivers Category:1967 births Category:Living people Category:American sports businesspeople
cs:Ken Block de:Ken Block et:Ken Block es:Ken Block fr:Ken Block it:Ken Block hu:Ken Block nl:Ken Block pt:Ken Block (piloto) ru:Блок, Кен fi:Ken Block sv:Ken BlockThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
The World News (WN) Network, has created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to user privacy. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for wn.com, as well as e-mail newsletters.
We do not collect personally identifiable information about you, except when you provide it to us. For example, if you submit an inquiry to us or sign up for our newsletter, you may be asked to provide certain information such as your contact details (name, e-mail address, mailing address, etc.).
When you submit your personally identifiable information through wn.com, you are giving your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as set forth in this Privacy Policy. If you would prefer that we not collect any personally identifiable information from you, please do not provide us with any such information. We will not sell or rent your personally identifiable information to third parties without your consent, except as otherwise disclosed in this Privacy Policy.
Except as otherwise disclosed in this Privacy Policy, we will use the information you provide us only for the purpose of responding to your inquiry or in connection with the service for which you provided such information. We may forward your contact information and inquiry to our affiliates and other divisions of our company that we feel can best address your inquiry or provide you with the requested service. We may also use the information you provide in aggregate form for internal business purposes, such as generating statistics and developing marketing plans. We may share or transfer such non-personally identifiable information with or to our affiliates, licensees, agents and partners.
We may retain other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Such third parties may be provided with access to personally identifiable information needed to perform their functions, but may not use such information for any other purpose.
In addition, we may disclose any information, including personally identifiable information, we deem necessary, in our sole discretion, to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal proceeding or governmental request.
We do not want you to receive unwanted e-mail from us. We try to make it easy to opt-out of any service you have asked to receive. If you sign-up to our e-mail newsletters we do not sell, exchange or give your e-mail address to a third party.
E-mail addresses are collected via the wn.com web site. Users have to physically opt-in to receive the wn.com newsletter and a verification e-mail is sent. wn.com is clearly and conspicuously named at the point of
collection.If you no longer wish to receive our newsletter and promotional communications, you may opt-out of receiving them by following the instructions included in each newsletter or communication or by e-mailing us at michaelw(at)wn.com
The security of your personal information is important to us. We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during registration and once we receive it. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100 percent secure, however. Therefore, though we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
If we decide to change our e-mail practices, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, the homepage, and other places we think appropriate so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.
If we make material changes to our e-mail practices, we will notify you here, by e-mail, and by means of a notice on our home page.
The advertising banners and other forms of advertising appearing on this Web site are sometimes delivered to you, on our behalf, by a third party. In the course of serving advertisements to this site, the third party may place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser. For more information on cookies, you can visit www.cookiecentral.com.
As we continue to develop our business, we might sell certain aspects of our entities or assets. In such transactions, user information, including personally identifiable information, generally is one of the transferred business assets, and by submitting your personal information on Wn.com you agree that your data may be transferred to such parties in these circumstances.