The term Subaru comes from the Japanese language meaning “unite”. It is also a term identifying a cluster of six stars, which the Greeks called the Pleiades - part of the Taurus constellation. According to Greek mythology, Atlas' daughters turned into this group of stars.

The six-stars cluster featured in the Subaru badge design is known in Japan as mutsuraboshi (six stars), and FHI was the first vehicle manufacturer to use a Japanese word for a brand of automobile.

The first vehicle to wear the Subaru name was the Subaru 1500 – a car designed to comfortably seat four adults. Lessons learned in the development of the Subaru 1500 led to the debut of the Subaru 360 – a milestone that established Subaru as a builder of small, affordable, yet technologically advanced cars.

Today, Fuji Heavy Industries is a global engineering and transportation conglomerate.