The Subaru logo isn’t just a neat design penned by a graphic artist merely just to look nice, it actually acts as a visual guide of how and when the automaker was established. Start with the name: Subaru means “unite” in Japanese, and that’s our first clue. See, back in 1953, five companies merged to form Fuji Heavy Industries — now dubbed Subaru Corporation — and Subaru became the car-making arm of the new outfit. That merger is written into the badge itself, with the five smaller stars representing the original companies. That big central star in the middle? That one represents Subaru itself.
There’s more to it than that, though. The design is modeled on the Pleiades, a star cluster also known as the Seven Sisters. Subaru also refers to this star cluster, in addition to meaning unite, so it works on multiple levels. Subaru didn’t just overlook that seventh star either, as it’s generally too faint to be seen with the naked eye, and so it simply didn’t need to be featured on the logo. Plus, that would be one star too many to represent the initial merger, too.
There’s more symbolism layered in too, as those stars are arranged in a way that subtly forms an “S,” tying the cosmic reference back to the brand name. The colors are no accident either. Blue conveys trust, dependability, and Subaru’s obsession with reliability, while silver accents stand in for quality and advanced engineering — all of that being a part of Subaru’s brand identity all along. The Pleiades have long been associated with the seasons, renewal, and cycles of growth, themes Subaru leans on when it talks about constant innovation and engineering progress.
Variations of the badge
Before we move on, it’s worth mentioning that Subaru’s performance brand, Subaru Technica International, or STI, adopted a vivid cherry blossom tone called sakura no iro for its own logo. You won’t see it all that often, but pay attention next time you’re looking at an old-school STI Impreza and you should notice that pinkish-red logo, instead of the now familiar blue and silver. The color is known as Cherry Blossom Red — not pink — and of course is inspired by Japan’s culturally important and ever-beautiful cherry blossom trees.
Some of these badges are in the typical Subaru style, with those aforementioned six stars, while other cherry blossom-colored badges will have a simple lowercase “i” in place of the stars. While there doesn’t seem to be an official answer from Subaru, most enthusiasts seem to be in agreement that the “i” simply refers to “Impreza.” This does make good sense, as it was around this era that Forester models had their own ‘F’ badge too. These were JDM only, for both the Forester and Impreza, and so a rare sight on roads in the U.S., or anywhere outside Japan for that matter. Later Subaru models which were built in the U.S. sported the traditional blue and silver badges, which just makes the idiosyncrasies of these earlier cars that much more interesting.
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