About Subaru Cars
Subaru means "unite" and the six stars on the company logo represent the 6 companies from the FHI group (Fuji Heavy Industries). The company was formed in 1917 in Japan and initially was involved in aircraft research but soon began to produce aeroplanes.
They produced airplanes until WWII and then the company created its first scooter called the Fuji Rabbit. This was made using spare parts from its aeroplanes. Soon after the war, the company became two different businesses that manufactured scooters, engines and chassis. The CEO at this time, Kenji Kita wanted to become involved in the automotive world and so therefore the company produced their first car, the Subaru 1500 in 1954.
The 1500 also known as the P1 saw the production of the 360 four years later in 1958. This was followed by the production of the Sambar in 1961 and finally the R2 in 1969.
In the 1970s, they decided to expand their range of cars from small vehicles such as the Rex and Sambar and to produce much larger cars to fit into the mainstream passenger car market. This resulted in the production of the Leone and the Legacy in 1989 which proved to be hugely successful for the company.
The Plaza Accord agreement of 1985 resulted in them producing more cars. Their Legacy creation was influenced by their desire to compete with other successful Japanese car manufacturers such as Toyota and Honda, and they marketed the Legacy against the Camry and Accord.
The Legacy was a mainstream model and they continued to make similar cars such as the Alcyone XT in 1985 and the GT six-cylinder SVX in 1992.
Between 1995 to 2000, Subaru advertised its new car, the Subaru Outback, and the advert featured Paul Hogan as "Crocodile Dundee". The advert was hugely successful and helped to highlight their all-wheel drive. The advert used the tagline "the world's first sport-utility wagon.
During the 90s Subaru decided to move away from the production of small vehicles and concentrated their efforts on rally cars. This then paved the way for the Vivio and the Impreza.
Subaru used their knowledge of aerodynamic technology to aid them in their automotive industry. They created the "boxer" engines as well as using monocoque construction. Subaru is also the only car manufacturer that currently offers all-wheel drive as a standard issue on most of their models. They were also the first manufacturer to introduce ECTV (electronic continuously variable transmission); this replaces the use of standard gears.
In 2007 at the Frankfurt International Motor Show Subaru introduced a horizontally opposed, and water-cooled turbo diesel car called the Subaru EE engine, this was the first engine of its type to be fitted to a passenger car.
In September 2008 the diesel Forester and diesel Impreza were featured at the Paris Motor Show, they both had a 6-speed manual transmission.
Current models include the WRX and WRX STI, the Outback Sport, the Subaru Tribeca SUV and the Subaru Crosstrek XV.
Subaru Breakers
Our Subaru breakers have quoted 26 used Subaru parts in the last 30 days. Popular part requests during that time were for replacement parcel shelfs, engine (petrol complete), headlight/headlamp (driver side), air conditioning compressor/pumps and gearbox (manual). Quotes have ranged from £23.00 for a Subaru Impreza Wrx Turbo catalytic converter to £2000.00 for a Subaru Impreza Wrx gearbox (manual). There are 57,061 Subarus left on the road in the UK, meaning plenty of second-hand spares are available. The most requested parts for Subaru in 2025 were the bumper (front), wing (driver side), bumper (rear), engine (petrol complete) and gearbox (automatic).
All of our suppliers offer guaranteed Subaru parts with nationwide delivery available.