Did You Know? A Little History Lesson

[MY07GT]

Subaru, a Japanese car company, is the automotive division of Fuji Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (FHI).

Unlike some other motor companies, such as Ford (founded by Henry), Suzuki (founded by Michio), Toyota (founded by Sakichi Toyoda), and Honda (founded by Soichiro Honda), Subaru is not named after its founder.

"Subaru" is the Japanese word for the star cluster Pleiades that is depicted in the company logo. The Pleiades (also known as the Seven Sisters) has only six stars easily visible to the naked eye. Subaru's logo of six stars represents the five companies that came together after World War II to form one large company.

Before WWII, the maker of SUBARU cars, Fuji Heavy industries (FHI), was known as Nakajima Aircraft, which made many fighters and bombers. Even the famous Mitsubishi Zero fighter had a Nakajima 14 cylinder engine. After the war, the company was forced to spread into 15 companies to cut the strength of the huge weapon industry. In the early 1950s, five of the original companies gathered into one again to restart as a transportation company. That was FHI and that's why there are five little stars and one big star.

So, the present SUBARU emblem represents the present company structure rather than the original star cluster image.

While smaller than many of its competitors, Subaru has been a highly profitable company for many years. It is noted for the production of conventional-bodied cars with full-time AWD (in fact, in many markets its entire product range has this feature) and its use of boxer engines.

It is currently an affiliate of Toyota Motor Corporation, with it owning 8.7% of FHI. They acquired that stake from General Motors, who bought 20% of FHI in 1999 to have an extended presence in international markets, and collaborate technologically with FHI.

Subaru's best-known vehicles are high performance turbocharged versions of its Impreza, and Legacy (known as Liberty in Australia—it was renamed out of respect for the Legacy Australia Foundation, which aids veterans and their families during and after wars), which offer outstanding performance and handling at relatively affordable prices. Modified versions of the Impreza WRX and WRX STi have been competing successfully in car rallies and the World Rally Championship for many years (World Champion drivers include: Colin McRae, Richard Burns and Petter Solberg). The Subaru 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 Legacy.

Popular nicknames (especially among owners) for the Subaru brand name are "Scooby" and "Scooby-Doo" in the UK, and "Subie" and "subie-Doo" in the U.S. The Impreza WRX model is often referred to as the "Rex."


So we would have been Legacy aswell.

Phil.

[brendans225]

ah, a nice copy and paste job i see Phil

[LIBER8ED]

top bit of info all the same... quite handy to know... something that can come up as one of those silcence breaker conversations

ha ha

[XRC15T]

Phil was stoned at 2am when he posted that........

STI Company Outline
Established : April 2nd, 1988
Location : Fuji Heavy Industries Tokyo office, 3-9-6, Osawa, Mitaka city, Tokyo
Capitals : 250 million yen ( 100% funded by Fuji Heavy Industries )

Function - Management of SUBARU Motorsports Activities: FIA World Rally Championship (WRC)
- Development and tuning of Motorsport engines / chassis
- Planning and development of SUBARU STi versions
- Planning, development and manufacturing of STI original limited edition car
- Development and manufacture of competition parts, tuning parts and accessories for SUBARU cars.
- Planning and manufacturing of STI official merchandise
- PR, promotion, operation of web site, planning of Motorsports video and PR magazine for SUBARU Motorsport activity. Operation of the fan club
- Operation of SUBARU dealers' mechanic training program
- Planning and operating the SUBARU Motorsport promotion events.
- Planning for exhibition of Motorsport at Auto Shows
- Support to SUBARU Motorsport teams.
All Japan GT Championship, SCCA ProRally, Super Endurance Race Series and Production Car World Rally Championship


WRC Career Heighlights 1995 FIA World Rally Champion for Manufacturers' and Drivers' (Colin McRae)
1996 FIA World Rally Champion for Manufacturers'
1997 FIA World Rally Champion for Manufacturers'
2001 FIA World Rally Champion for Drivers' (Richard Burns)
2003 FIA World Rally Champion for Drivers' (Petter Solberg)


History 1988.04.02 Founded as subsidiary Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.
(capital: 50 million yen)

1988.11.02 Capital Increase: 150 million yen (200 million yen after increase)

1989.01 Subaru Legacy accomplish FIA Sanctioned record of 100 thousand consecutive kilometers drive and World Record of 223.345km/h

1990 Start full scale entry to World Rally Championship (WRC) from Safari Rally
Best result, overall 4th place, first win in Gr. N class in Safari Rally

1991 Legacy STi version made and sold to order
WRC: Best result, overall 2nd

1993 WRC: Legacy wins first overall at Rally New Zealand
Legacy wins Manufacturer's & Driver's Champion in Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC)

1994 Impreza STi version, made and sold to order
WRC: Impreza wins Acropolis Rally, WRC Rally New Zealand and British RAC Rally
Impreza WRX-RA STi version, made and sold to order
APRC: Win consecutive Manufacturer's & Driver's Champion

1995 Impreza WRX-RA STi version II, made and sold to order
WRC: win Rally Monte Carlo, Portugal, New Zealand, Catalonia, British RAC Rally
WRC: win both Manufacturer's & Driver's Champion

1996 Impreza WRX-RA STi version III, made and sold to order
WRC: win Acropolis, Sanremo and Catalunia
APRC: win Driver's Champion
WRC: win Manufacturer's World Champion

1997 WRC: 3 consecutive wins from Rally Monte Carlo to Safari Rally
WRC: 3 consecutive wins from Rally Sanremo and RAC Rally
Impreza WRX-RA STi version IV, made and sold to order
WRC: win Manufacturer's World Champion

1998 Impreza 555 Replica STi version, made and sold to order
Impreza 22B STi version (limited edition 400 units) sold out immediately after announced
WRC: win Rally Portugal, Tour de Corse, and Acropolis

1999 WRC: win Rally Argentina, Acropolis, Finland, Australia, and Great Britain

2000 Impreza S201 STi version, made and sold to order
WRC: win Safari Rally, Portugal, Argentina, and Great Britain

2001 WRC: win Rally New Zealand
WRC2001 win Driver's title

2002 Impreza S202 STi version limited edition put to sale
Legacy S401 STi version limited edition put to sale
WRC: win Rally Monte Carlo, Great Britain
Total wins in WRC: 35

2003 WRC: win Cyprus Rally
PCWRC:Rally New Zealand on New Impreza makes a Debut Win
PCWRC:win Rally Argentina
PCWRC:win Cyprus Rally

2004 WRC: win Rally New Zealand, Acropolis, Japan, Great Britain and Italy
PCWRC: win Rally Australia
PCWRC: SUBARU driver Niall McShea won Driver's Title
Impreza S203(Limited 555 units), made and sold to order

2005 WRC: win Rally Sweden, Mexico and Great Britain
PCWRC: win Rally Sweden, Cyprus, Turkey, Argentina, Great Britain, Japan and Australia
PCWRC: SUBARU driver Toshihiro Arai won Driver's title
S204(Limited 600 units), made and sold to order

2006 Tuned by STi Liberty 2.0 GT (Limited 300 units)and gave the bestest one to Franky

2007 Tuned by STi Liberty 2.5 GT (Limited 600 units), not as good as the bestest one in 2006, but its got brembos....

[brendans225]

2006 Tuned by STi Liberty 2.0 GT (Limited 300 units)and gave the bestest one to Franky

2007 Tuned by STi Liberty 2.5 GT (Limited 600 units), not as good as the bestest one in 2006, but its got brembos....

If you got the bestest 06 Sti liberty Franky, does that mean that Phil has the bestest 07 GT?

[XRC15T]

lol...............................................................













no