Fuji Heavy Industries

Fuji Heavy Industries, Ltd. (富士重工業株式会社, Fuji Jūkōgyō Kabushiki-gaisha^?), or FHI, is a Japanese company which traces its origins to the Nakajima Aircraft Company (est. 1917), which was the leader in aircraft manufacture for the Japanese military during WWII. At the end of World War II, Nakajima was broken up by the Allied Occupation government, and by 1950 part of the separated operation was already known as Fuji Heavy Industries.

FHI was incorporated on July 15, 1953 when five Japanese companies, known as Fuji Kogyo, Fuji Jidosha Kogyo, Omiya Fuji Kogyo, Utsunomiya Sharyo and Tokyo Fuji Sangyo, joined to form one of Japan's largest manufacturers of transportation equipment. Currently, FHI employs more than 15,000 people worldwide, operates nine manufacturing plants and sells products in 100 countries. It currently makes Subaru brand cars, and its aerospace division makes parts for Boeing, helicopters for the Japanese Self Defense Force, Raytheon Hawker, and Eclipse Aviation business jets.

In the United States, Fuji Heavy Industries owns Subaru of America, Inc., Subaru Research & Development, Inc., and Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. In 2003, the company adopted the logo of its Subaru division as its worldwide corporate symbol.^[1]

Shareholders

From 1968 until 1999, FHI was 20% owned by Nissan, who acquired the stake in 1968 during a period of government-ordered merging of Japanese auto industry firms in order to improve competitiveness under the administration of Prime Minister Eisaku Satō. During their ownership, Nissan was primarily interested in its bus manufacturing division and lent automaking expertise to Subaru. Upon Nissan's acquisition by Renault, its 20% stake was sold to General Motors, but GM announced on October 6, 2005 that it will sell 8.4% of the company to Toyota and disposed of its remaining share, 11.6% of the company, on the market.^[2]

On April 10, 2008, Toyota increased its stake in FHI to 16.7% and announced the end of minicar production at its facility in Gunma Prefecture. Daihatsu, a subsidiary of Toyota, will instead supply the cars to FHI.^[3]

Divisions

FHI has four main divisions:

• The automobile division, Subaru, has been manufacturing and selling automobiles since 1954 and now has 1,970 dealers in 100 countries.
• The aerospace division is a contractor for the Japan Defense Agency and markets and sells both commercial and defense-related aircraft, helicopters and target drones. This division used to build the Fuji FA200 Aero Subaru and is currently participating in the Airbus A380, Boeing 777, Boeing 787, Hawker 4000 and Eclipse 500 programs, and supplies parts for Boeing 737, Boeing 747 and Boeing 767. A Stock for London Underground Rolling Stock.
• The industrial products division manufactures and sells commercial engines, pumps and generators under the Subaru-Robin brand in North America, and as Robin everywhere else. Fuji's industrial products division, began manufacturing "Star" engines for Polaris Industries snowmobiles in 1968 but the cooperation ended in 1998 when Polaris Industries started to build their own brand new Liberty two-stroke engines, but Fuji remains a Polaris supplier of pistons to this day. Fuji is a partner with Polaris, owning a percentage of Polaris stock. Fuji has provided more than 2 million engines used in Polaris snowmobiles, ATVs, watercraft and utility vehicles.^[4]
• The eco technology division manufactures and sells garbage trucks, robot sweeper, and wind turbines.
• FHI discontinued the production of buses and railroad cars in 2003.

The company's four divisions all share their technological advancements with one another, which has made FHI a leader in innovation. In particular, they apply a great deal of their aircraft technology to their automotive division, the most notable example being the horizontally-opposed boxer engines used in all modern Subaru automobiles.

Leadership

Past presidents

• 1953-1956 — Kenji Kita
• 1956-1963 — Takao Yoshida
• 1963-1970 — Nobuo Yokota
• 1970-1978 — Eiichi Ohara
• 1978-1985 — Sadamichi Sasaki
• 1985-1990 — Toshihiro Tajima
• 1990-1996 — Isamu Kawai
• 1996-2001 — Takeshi Tanaka
• 2001-2006 — Kyoji Takenaka
• 2006-present — Ikuo Mori

Bus models

A 5E body with Isuzu Cubic chassis

A 7E body articulated bus with Volvo B10M chassis

A 1M body with Nissan Diesel Space Arrow chassis

• R13
  • 13
  • 3A/3B/3D/3E
  • R1/R2
• R14
  • 14
  • 4B/4E
• R15
  • 5B/5E
  • R1/R2/R3
  • HD1/HD2/HD3
  • Double-decker
• R16
  • 6B/6E
  • H1
• R17
  • 7B/7E
  • 7HD
  • 7S
• R18
  • 8B/8E
• R21
  • 1M/1S

References

External links

• FHI Corporate Information
• Subaru global website

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