Have You Ever Wondered What the Subaru Logo Means? Read This to Find Out
The blue Subaru logo with six stars enclosed in an oval, the one that stands tall on signs for local Subaru dealers around the country, has a rich meaning behind it. The logo was created in 1953 when five Japanese companies merged to form Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI), a Japanese transportation conglomerate that specializes in ground and aerospace manufacturing. It was no easy task to design the logo, which would represent this iconic merger for years to come. The best logos are simple yet memorable, a true embodiment of a company’s ideals that showcases them as leaders in the market. A logo is tasked with conveying a brand’s trustworthiness, prestige, and commitment to quality. The logo for new and used Subaru dealers accomplishes all of this and even incorporates a pictorial history of how the company began.
Subaru is the Japanese name for the Pleiades star cluster
Pleiades is a group of stars in the constellation of Taurus that’s been helping orient people for thousands of years because it’s one of the easiest clusters to spot in a clear night sky. Subaru means “coming together,” or “cluster” in Japanese, adding to the nuanced meaning of the merger that defined Subaru’s beginnings.
The six stars represent the five companies that merged to form FHI
In English, this star is known as “The Seven Sisters.” So why are there only six stars on the logo? One of the stars is said to be invisible, so the star cluster appears to have six luminous spheres shining in the sky. It’s also a nod to the five companies that make up FHI. The large star in the top left of the logo represents the parent company FHI, while the five stars in the center of the design reference the five Japanese companies that came together on July 15, 1953 to form FHI.
The blue color depicts Pleiades’ appearance in the sky
The Pleiades star cluster was formed in the last 100 million years and is classified as a hot blue emission star, meaning that it has a distinctive blue color to stargazers below. The rich history of Pleiades is also a reference to the strong, unified ideals of FHI and the Subaru car dealers division.
Have you seen the starry blue logo on signs at your local Subaru dealers locally? Do you think it’s an accurate representation of the company? Were you surprised to learn that there’s so much meaning behind it, or were you already familiar with the history behind local Subaru dealers? If you have any thoughts on this or other auto company logos, please share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.