Subaru of America Commemorates 50th Anniversary
Subaru of America’s golden anniversary marks five decades of growth that started from humble beginnings by two American businessmen.
August 1, 2018
The all-new Subaru of America headquarters held its grand opening on April 27. The $118 million campus, located in Camden, N.J., brings four previously separate offices under one roof. It's double the size of the previous headquarters at 250,000 sq. ft. and houses 550 employees.
Photo by Mike Antich
1 min to read
Subaru of America was founded on Feb. 15, 1968 by two American businessman: Malcolm Bricklin and Harvey Lamm. In 1965, Bricklin was selling franschises for motor scooters that included the Fuji Rabbit and the tiny Subaru 360, a rear-engined, two-door city car. Bricklin then formed Subaru of America, Inc. (SOA) in order to sell Subaru franchises with Harvey Lamm.
As SOA continued to grow, it moved in 1986 to a larger corporate headquarters in Cherry Hill, N.J. Subaru entered the fleet market in 1987, when it hired Charles Reed as its manager of national fleet and rental. Reed continues to this day to lead the company's fleet sales organization.
On Aug. 31, 1990, Fuji Heavy Industries acquired Subaru of America thorugh a $6 per share cash offer. Fuji Heavy Industries was renamed Subaru Corp. in April of 2017.
From its humble beginning, SOA has grown, experiencing record growth for the past nine consecutive years. A key dfferentiator and important factor in Subaru’s success in the U.S. market was its decision to offer all-wheel-drive across its entire product lineup.
With its ongoing expansion, SOA outgrew the Cherry Hill HQ and in May 2018 SOA moved into a brand-new headquaters it built in Camden, N.J., that was twice as large.
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