A History of Subaru’s Logo

Automotive logos’ origins can be both obvious and obscure. Most obvious are those which are just a stylized version of a brand’s first initial such as seen for Honda, Hyundai, Lexus, or VW. Others are a bit more inscrutable. Lore has it Chevrolet’s “Bow tie” was simply a shape co-founder William Durant saw in a french hotel room’s wallpaper.

What about the badge which adorns all of our cars at Twin Falls Subaru? Its original iteration dates back to 1953 when five Japanese companies united to become Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. The conglomerate adopted “Subaru” as its name, which means “Unite” in Japanese ”. “Subaru” also refers to the cluster of stars known as “The Pleiades” in English, so the new company immediately looked to this star cluster as their symbol.

Always Six Stars and an Oval

Throughout its 80-year life, Subaru’s logo consisted of six four-pointed stars, one larger one and five smaller ones grouped together by an oval. Subaru graphic designers and Marketing Directors have regularly updated the Subaru logo. Up until 1980, for instance, the stars were arranged to more closely resemble The Pleiades cluster’s actual layout up to that point, these stars were also connected at their center’s constellation style except for two stars on the right, which were simply connected by the oval.

At first, the logo was just an oval and stars represented in silver metal with no background. In 1958, possibly inspired by the” lower, longer, wider” design ethos of America’s cars industry at the time, the stars became lower and wider and goldin color, potentially invoking a more upscale image. This lasted only two years when it was replaced by a more colorful badge. The stars returned to silver but now had a red background which Subaru stated was a representation of their brand’s passion for progress and movement.

With an 11-year run, the red badge was then replaced by the biggest variation yet in which the entire former logo is encased in a V-angled trapezoid. This trapezoid served to bisect the low, wide grilles of Subaru’s models at the time.  A dark background represented the night sky while background stars appeared in a grid of tiny silver dots inside the oval.

Rearranging the Stars

For a brief period in 1980, Subaru’s logo went back to being close to its original form with no trapezoid, no background color, but also no connecting lines. It was later in 1980 which brought about its biggest change. Subaru ditched its original Pleiades star arrangement in favor of the current familiar positioning of a large star on the left with five smaller stars equidistantly spaced from each other to the right, all entirely within the oval, with the solid black night sky background remaining.

The black/silver logo had a good run of almost 20 years until 1999 when designers got a hold of it again. The stars, which had always been sharp-edged with a forward edge on each of their points, were now flattened in front with beveled edges which were rounded in their outer contours. They also connected in three pairs lending the whole cluster a more organic shape. Blue replaced black as the background but with a lightened gradient around the largest star.

A small tweak came in 2003 when more gradients were added to the star’s and oval’s edges giving everything a more 3D appearance. That was 20 years ago, if past is prologue, we shouldn’t be surprised to see another adjustment sometime soon. What won’t change is the brand Subaru’s badge represents. Such as being Kelley Blue Book’s most trusted brand for 8 years in a row, and earning more IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK+ awards than any other brand across ten years. This would also be the brand with the lowest Ownership Cost in 2022 by Intellichoice and was Consumer Reports’ highest-ranked automotive brand in 2022.

At Twin Falls Subaru, we strongly represent our Subaru brand, our Subaru Love Promise and commitment to community, and customer loyalty.  Stop by our Twin Falls, Idaho, showroom and experience for yourself why Twin Falls Subaru is your Subaru dealer choice.