That's true. They have to get the facts right......

Still not feeling this new style of Subaru

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you're right... crouching tiger is chinese... how stupid do they think the Americans are? passing this off as Japanese heritage... don't think dragons feature much in japanese heritage at all... be interesting to see if they try that over here in Europe as well.... need to check that out...

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Yes, dragons do figure in Japanese heritage. Quite a bit, actually. But hey - facts are overrated - keep posting...

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Fuji Heavy Industries (Subaru Parent), previously Nakajima Aircraft company, has a much more storied legacy then most other car companies that play on their aviation history.

They actually still are a major player in the aviation industry and are participating in the building the Airbus A380, Boing 777, 787, etc and are also involved in still build aircraft and helicopter development.

http://www.fhi.co.jp/english/outline/section/aero.html

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IMO its still a pretty loose connection to Subaru, especially since the automobile division hasn't had anything to with aviation period. Fuji may indeed OWN both, but I doubt there is any crossover from their aerospace work into the automobiles

SAAB cars, on the other hand, were created by SAAB aerospace engineers - a very direct offshoot. They were also owned and controlled by SAAB AB until ~1990 and completely divested SAAB Automobile in 2000. There is also a certain level of trickle-down technology incorporated into SAAB cars over the past 60 or so years.

SAAB AB is also very active in airframe development. By contrast, Fuji has fielded (to the best of my knowledge) two aircraft of their own in the past 60 years - an F-86 Sabre knockoff and less than 300 units of a small piston GA monoplane.

But to be honest, presently, neither SAAB nor Subaru cars have anything to do with their distant winged relations. I also wouldn't advertise the Nakajima aircraft too heavily if I were Subaru. ;)

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Same company, Subaru is a sub-brand of Fuji Heavy Industries. Subaru itself is the name of a constellation of stars, a nudge to their aeronautical past (and the five companies that make FHI)

Fuji was (and still is) a major supplier of aeronautical parts for Boeing and Airbus, and still produce planes and helicopters. Their history as Nakajima is huge (the Smithsonian has their planes in the Udvar-Hazy Museum in the DC metro area)

The argument with Saab is plain ignorant. GM owns the automotive division of Saab, and is completely separate from their aviation department at this point. Fuji Heavy Industry still owns the major part of Subaru.

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>>I also wouldn't advertise the Nakajima aircraft too heavily if I were Subaru.

So BMW shouldn't advertise their aeronautical history due to their heavy connection with their Nazi past and their use of Jewish slave labor?

http://discardedlies.com/entry/?8644

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That Nakajima comment was a joke, hence the ;)

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Uhh Brian, you do know that one of the original engineers that worked on the Subaru 360, designed landing gears for Nakajima aircraft right? That's how torsion bar suspensions made it into cars from airplanes in Japan.

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Yeah. But the beauty of the NYT is that you KNOW - up front - that you are reading fiction. Generally totally unsubstantiated, totally non-fact-checked - total fiction.

Blue State!

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Yes, there are references to Japanese culture in Blade Runner.. Fast & Furious uses Japanese cars (also, Tokyo Drift).. Heroes has a Japanese character. But Crouching Tiger has zilch, zero, nothing to do with Japanese culture whatsoever. But it's probably too much to ask the NY Times to make a little effort to distinguish between the Asian cultures..

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