Subaru: 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 similar to those in cars like the Volkswagen Beetle and Porsche 911, in most of their vehicles above 1500 cc as well as thier use of the all Wheel drive drive-train layout, the 4x4 first introduced in 1972, and the AWD became standard equipment for mid-size and smaller cars in most international markets as of 1996, and is now standard in all US market Subaru vehicles. The lone exception is the new for 2012 BRZ, utilizing RWD. 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.[1] Subaru is the Japanese name for the Pleiades star cluster, which in turn inspires the Subaru logo and alludes to the siz companies that marged to create FHI.
