Carmall.com - Who doesn't know Subaru? The Japanese car brand developed by the manufacturing division of Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI). But did you know that FHI, before producing its first car, the Subaru 1500 or P-1, was a maker of airplanes?

Historically, the six-star-logo Subaru (one big star with five smaller stars), the design of which is based on the Taurus constellation formation, got its beginnings from the Aircraft Research Laboratory founded in 1917 by Navy Captain Chikuhei Nakajima.


Chikuhei Nakajima succeeded in developing and making large-sized military and civilian aircrafts. But in post World War II, Japan was prohibited from producing all types of weaponry, which also meant an end to Nakajima Aircraft's operations.

Long story short, FHI was then founded as a joint venture with several other Japanese private companies. At the time, FHI set out to be a maker of low-priced cars for the Japanese people, and in the course of history arrived to be the producer of the range of Subaru products we have today.

One of which is this SUV we tested, the Forester 2.0X. As with other Subaru products, the Forester also features the Symmetrical All Wheel Drive.