Origin of the Name Subaru
In 1953, five Japanese car companies merged toform Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (FHI), and adopted a “Subaru” cluster of starsas its official logo for its cars. Thiscluster of stars is better known by the Greek name “Pleiades,” which is part ofthe Taurus constellation. In the West,the cluster is called Pleiades, and in China, Mao, and Japan it is calledSubaru meaning “to govern” or “gather together.” Subaru was the first automobile brand to usea Japanese word as its name.
Pleiadesconsists of hot blue stars that were formed together about 100 million yearsago. Six of its stars are visible to thenaked eye, but about 250 bluish stars can be seen if one uses a telescope. These blueish stars have influenced Subaru’s bluecolor scheme.
It isthought that the biggest star in the Subaru logo represents Fuji HeavyIndustries, while the five smaller stars represent the five companies thatmerged under the Fuji Heavy Industries.As seen on the right, the stars of the Subaru logo are arranged in avery similar to the way they are in the Pleiades open star cluster.
Look howthe Subaru logo has evolved over time!
References:
http://www.subaru-global.com/origin_name.html
http://www.famouslogos.us/subaru-logo/
http://www.worldcarfans.com/10603087580/subarus-six-star-badge
