Subaru's parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries, will be known by a different, more recognizable name next year: Subaru.
Fuji Heavy Industries has finally decided to rebrand itself, taking the name of the conglomerate’s best-known marque, Subaru.
The name is an effort to improve its name recognition and make it easier to identify the company, which also produces aerospace products and other industrial goods. The move, set to be completed in April 2017, was timed to mark the company’s 100th anniversary. It was originally named the Aircraft Research Laboratory in 1917.
“It makes sense to connect the larger company with the brand,” explained Michael McHale, a Subaru corporate spokesman based at its U.S. headquarters in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
Fuji Heavy Industries, or FHI, still has to win shareholder approval for the switch, something it expects to happen at the June 28 annual meeting. If so, the move would be completed by April 1 of next year.
Aircraft Research Laboratory went through a number of reorganizations and name changes over the years. That included Nakajima Aircraft Co., known for producing a number of the Japanese government’s fighter aircraft during World War II. It became FHI in 1953, five years before entering the auto industry in 1958.
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For years, the Subaru brand was one of Japan’s smallest carmakers, focusing on small vehicles like the early 360 model. It entered the U.S. market in the 1970s, licensing an American distributorship owned by auto entrepreneur Malcom Bricklin and Philadelphia furniture store owner Harvey Lamm.
FHI bought out the operations two decades later, when it was in danger of going broke. But things soon turned around, largely through the launch of the Outback, one of the market’s first crossover-utility vehicles.
In recent years, Subaru has grown rapidly. It was, in fact, the only automaker to post sales and market share gains every year during the recent U.S. recession. It recorded a 67% increase in net income for its most recent fiscal year, at 436.7 billion yen, or $3.9 billion.
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North America remains the brand’s biggest market, accounting for 630,000 out of the 958,000 vehicles sold by Subaru during the last fiscal year.
Separately, Subaru of America is warning some late model Legacy sedan and Outback SUV owners to park the vehicles until it can repair a defect that can cause their steering to fail. Dealers have also been given a stop-sale for those two model-lines. About 52,000 vehicles are affected, just 22,000 actually sold in the U.S. so far. The rest are still on dealer lots, according to the carmaker.
According to a document submitted by Subaru to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the steering columns on 2016 and 2017 Legacy and Outback models may have been manufactured improperly, and they might not engage properly with the rest of the steering system.
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“If this were to occur, the steering wheel may rotate freely and the driver would lose the ability to steer the vehicle,” the documents said, Subaru also noting it will directly notify customers and make repairs at no cost.