Subaru fans will know that the Japanese car company is simply an arm of parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries. FHI builds industrial products such as planes and buses, but now the company will focus more on cars. In "an extraordinary meeting of its Board of Directors," Fuji Heavy Industries will be changing its name to "Subaru Corporation." The name change represents the company's shift to focus more on meeting automotive sales records after nearing one million global sales for the first time ever this year.

The name change will take effect on April 1, 2017 to coincide with the company's 100th anniversary. We think that this simple name change could help Subaru in the future. Sometimes it can be confusing to know which automakers are owned by which companies. By unifying the Subaru brand, we think that the company can become more global without as much confusion. It may not seem like a major change, but it could be a great decision for Subaru. With the name change, production of some of the company's industrial engines will move to China as part of a joint-venture. This process will start after September 30, 2017.

Subaru is calling its plan "Prominence 2020." By 2020, Subaru hopes to have global sales of over 1.1 million vehicles. If Subaru wants to hit this sales number, it is counting on a 25 percet sales boom in the US. Subaru has plans to introduce a seven-seat SUV and a plug-in hybrid to the US market, which should help the brand sell more vehicles here.