A descendant of the Nakajima Aircraft Company (est. 1917), Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) was established on July 15, 1953 when five Japanese companies 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.

FHI has four main divisions. The automobile division, Subaru, has been manufacturing and selling automobiles since 1958 and now has 1,970 dealers in 100 countries. The aerospace division is a contractor for the Defense Agency of Japan and markets and sells both commercial and defense-related aircraft, helicopters and target drones . The industrial products division manufactures and sells equipment under the Robin brand. Finally, the transportation equipment division builds several types of buses, garbage trucks, and prefabricated housing .

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.

Sources

• http://www.subaru.com/home/about/fuji.html
• http://www.fhi.co.jp/english/corp/history.htm
• http://www.fhi.co.jp/english/corp/outline/index.html