Why does Subaru Logo have Six Stars on it?

It’s not uncommon to see brand logos of companies with some objects and shapes on them. Every logo is designed and honed with a purpose, and of course, it also has a hidden meaning. There is more than meets the eye. Sometimes, even the color used for the font speaks volumes and is related to the company’s vision in general. However, for the Subaru logo, it’s definitely not an easy task to decipher how the company chose its emblem. The stars on them are not placed without any special reason. And this article will highlight about Subaru’s history and how the stars were placed in their logo emblem.

Subaru’s history

Simply reading the word Subaru, everyone can tell it’s a Japanese word. It’s properly pronounced as “su-ba-ru”. Their company firm is also the first Japanese automaker in the world to name its company derived from their native language. This automobile company is a division of a conglomerate business which is the Subaru Corporation. Most people probably refer to them by their old name which is Fuji Heavy Industries. According to a 2012 report, Subaru is ranked as the twenty-second largest automotive manufacturer worldwide.

FHI or Fuji Heavy Industries actually started as an aircraft research laboratory. It was founded in 1915 by Chikuhei Nakajima. It soon developed and focused on producing aircraft for their country during World War 2. Times passed and their business model continued to evolve. It was during the FHI’s previous CEO, Kenji Kita’s time that the company decided to be involved in car manufacturing. It was in 1953 when Subaru was able to successfully invent its first car model which was temporarily named as P-1. Kenji Kita figured and came up with a name that he cherished for a long time, and that is when the word Subaru was born. It is a Japanese name which means the Pleiades star cluster. The first car model was then named as Subaru 1500.

The mystery of the stars in Subaru’s logo

Subaru actually means “unite” in the Japanese language. However, it is also a term that refers to the Pleiades star cluster. These are the six stars in the Taurus constellation. It was then named as “Pleiades” by the ancient Greeks. It’s quite interesting for a logo design, right? Each star in the emblem actually represents a company entity that was merged with FHI. The company’s Subaru logo portrays the five companies that unite FHI. These five companies are Fuji Kogyo, Fuji Jidosha, Omiya Fuji Kogyo, Utsunomiya Sharyo, and Tokyo Fuji Sangyo. All of them unite together representing the 7 daughters of Atlas. But why are there seven daughters, should there be seven stars too?

In the Subaru emblem, you will see that there is one big star beside the five small stars. The big star represents the Fuji Heavy Industries, while the five stars represent their merged companies. Now the lacking one star is actually a combination of two interconnected stars which is viewed as one big star as well. The different star clusters presented in the Subaru logo depicts unification. Each and every company of FHI work together in forming a great relationship with each other. The background color is also blue because the Pleiades stars are blue naturally as well. Blue is portrayed as a positive and energized color, which often means trust, loyalty, and stability. Subaru’s logo is also outlined with a silver oval which makes it more sophisticated looking and giving it an edgy vibe. The combinations of both silver and blue colors are exactly the representation of the constellation, as silver is perceived as the color of the star while the blue represents the skies.

Changes in the Subaru’s logo

Although Subaru logos have changed over time, it only had minimal changes to its logo over the years. They probably repositioned the placement of the stars on the oval outline. They also did change the background a couple of times, but they have stuck to their original concept of unification and of the Taurus constellation design.

The previous designs were quite more similar to the Pleiades real constellation. They also designed some logos with golden stars and red backgrounds. However, in all these changes, they never had majorly changed the concept of their logo. Thus, this emblem has been recognized now as an automotive company that had a breakthrough in a company that started with only a concept and became one of the strongest market players in the world up to date.

The brand that finally did it for Subaru

The ultimate branding of a company is not only focused on its logo emblem but additionally to its slogan as well. Subaru has had different marketing slogans to succeed and failed. Although they have had a lot of slogans that were too far to remember, finally in 2008, their love campaign was perfectly matched to their brand appeal. The tag line: “Love. It’s what makes Subaru, a Subaru,” finally did it for the company.

Current updates about Subaru

As of 2019, consumer reports show that Subaru actually won first place among the 33 brands including luxurious automobile brands. The company also won two of the 10 best vehicle awards. The car models who won these awards were the Subaru Forester and the Subaru Ascent. In the US alone, there is no doubt that their sales revenue is constantly increasing in this current decade, and is looking better and better over the years.

The Subaru WRX STI will be available soon in 2021. The next-gen Levorg STI sport was also previewed this year at a Tokyo Auto Salon event. Another one waiting to be launched in 2021 is 2021 Subaru BRZ spy shots. There are a lot of other promising launches that the automotive company is preparing soon. Watch out and wait for it.

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