Tag: SUBARU

The founder and first president of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., Kenji Keita, was a true automotive enthusiast and personally participated in the development of the first prototype of the P-1 passenger car in 1954.

The competition for the name of the car brand did not yield any results, so Kita made the choice himself. The first Subaru cars were made on the basis of the Renault car.

Kenji Kita has purchased a number of drawings and patents for the production of cars from the French car corporation Renault, these cars inspired him.

The word “Subaru” (Jap. 昴?) is the Japanese name for the star cluster Pleiades in the constellation of Taurus. About a dozen of its stars can be seen in the night sky with the naked eye, about 250 more with a telescope.

Despite the fact that the Pleiades are recorded using kanji 昴, taken under the influence of the Chinese scientific tradition, the Japanese name of the cluster comes from the verb Subaru (Yap. 統る?, “to be put together”).

The company does not use kanji to record the brand, limited to the Latin alphabet and katakana. The brand and its logo also refer to another ancient Japanese name, Pleiades, Mitsubaraboshi (Yap. 六連星?, “six stars”), hinting at six companies that merged to form FHI.