Subaru Motor Company is a Japanese automaker, and is a subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI). General Motors was a minority shareholder with 20% of this company between 1999 and 2005, when they sold 8.7% of their shares to Toyota and left the rest to the open market. Toyota has expanded its stake and since 2008 has held 16.5% of the shares.

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In 2004 Subaru manufactured 601,505 vehicles, up from 544,868 in 2003. The figure placed Subaru in 19th place in the world ranking of manufacturers, while 2014 had the seventh year of continuous sales growth in the U.S. and total world sales of 889,000 units. Subaru was founded in 1953 and its first model was the Subaru 360 which was launched in 1958. In 1966 it launched its 1000 model, the first mass-produced front-wheel drive car in Japan. Another milestone was the 1972 SW 4WD, the world’s first four-wheel-drive passenger car.

Subaru World Rally Team

The Subaru World Rally Team was the official Subaru team competing in the World Rally Championship. It was based in Banbury, United Kingdom and was managed by the British company Prodrive, with director David Richards. Although it officially participated between 1986 and 1988, it was not until 1990 when the Japanese brand signed a contract with Prodrive to manage its participation in the championship.

In 1991 and 1992 he achieved his first podiums and in 1993 he had the Subaru Impreza 555 (group A) the same year in which he obtained his first victory, in the New Zealand Rally with Colin McRae. With Subaru Impreza he participated until 1996 obtaining eleven victories, a driver’s title (in 1995 with Colin McRae) and two records (1995 and 1996). In 1997 he debuted the Subaru Impreza WRC vehicle which had twelve evolutions, and with which he competed until his last year, in 2008, achieving a total of thirty-five victories and driver titles in 2001 and 2003, with Richard Burns and Petter Solberg, and brands in 1997.