Subaru

From open-encyclopedia.com - the free encyclopedia.

For other uses, see Subaru (disambiguation).

Subaru (In katakana: スバル), a Japanese car company, is a subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries. General Motors is a 20% minority shareholder. "Subaru" is the Japanese word for the star cluster Pleiades that is depicted in the company logo. In New Zealand, it is pronounced "Su-BAR-roo", rather than "Su-ba-ROO" or the North American "SOO-ba-roo".

While an automotive minnow compared to 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 all wheel drive (in fact, in many markets its entire product range has this feature) and its use of the horizontally-opposed boxer engine (flat engine).

Subaru's best-known vehicles are high performance turbocharged versions of its Legacy (known as Liberty in Australia), and Impreza, which offer outstanding performance and handling at relatively affordable prices. Modified versions of the Impreza WRX have been competing successfully in car rallies and the World Rally Championship for many years. Several endurance records were set in the early and mid-ninties by the Legacy.

Subaru cars (especially Imprezas) are sometimes affectionately referred to as "Scooby-Doos" or "Scoobies", due to the similarity in pronunciation between "Subaru" and "Scooby Doo".

Recently GM has developed the Saab 9-2X model, based on the Subaru WRX.

Contents

Present models

Forester (a crossover SUV)
Impreza Turbo
Impreza
Impreza WRX
Legacy
Outback
Baja
Pleo (a Keicar)
R2 (also a Keicar)
Sambar (also a Keicar)
Traviq (a rebadged Opel Zafira Minivan)
Subaru B9X (to be released in 2006)

Past models

360
FF-1 Star
FF-1G
1400 DL/GL
1600 Leone
1800
Alcyone/XT6
BRAT
Justy
Leone
GL/DL/Loyale
Rex
SVX
Vivio
XT

External links

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