What’s up With All the Subaru Tattoos? Fun Facts About the Brand
Hannah DeWitt
· 4 min read
Subaru
has been making inroads in the U.S. since it came over from Japan, working its way into Americans' hearts. While Subaru has been available in America since the 1970s, the carmaker has gained an incredibly loyal customer base in more recent decades. The brand builds cars with unique features that fit consumer needs.
Subaru customers have expressed their appreciation in their own ways, which includes getting Subaru tattoos.
What’s behind the Subaru logo?
The Subaru logo is quite unique, which allows tattoo artists to get very creative. The logo includes a backdrop of six stars. However, this star alignment isn’t random.
"Subaru" is the Japanese name for a very specific star cluster. In English, this star cluster is known as the "Seven Sisters." Legend says the seventh sister is invisible, which is why the logo only shows six total stars.
The star cluster is beautiful enough on its own, but tattoo artists have blended it with grander designs to offer a subtle expression of appreciation for the carmaker, as seen on
Next Luxury
.While Subaru is mostly known for building outdoorsy vehicles, they also have an impressive WRX STI sports vehicle. The logo for this car is also quite unique, relying on its own proprietary font. The logo is fitting for a sports car, which has found its way into countless tattoos.
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Subaru has excellent customer satisfaction
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Of course, not many people are willing to get a tattoo of a car company they love. But Subaru has earned some impressive customer rankings, even among the non-tattooed.
According to
Torque News
, Subaru customers report very high levels of satisfaction. Among non-luxury car brands, Subaru has the second-highest customer satisfaction rating, with Nissan coming in first. Even when accounting for luxury brands, Subaru still ranks third, with Lexus in the top spot. This study was based on a few different criteria such as online data reviews, customer engagement on social media, and reports from automotive publications like Edmunds and Cars.com.
Why is Subaru so strongly associated with lesbians?
MORE: Subaru Included a Thoughtful Touch to the 2022 Outback
With Subaru, we must address the question that’s on everyone's mind. It's an overused punchline that lesbians like Subarus, but this isn't a coincidence according to
The Atlantic
. In the 1990s, the carmaker was focused on making rugged and reliable cars. Every car came stocked with all-wheel drive and the unique Boxer engine. The result was cars that could handle mountain roads and tough weather.
Later in the ‘90s, Subaru went on a mission to identify their largest customer demographics. They found that their car was popular with teachers, health care professionals, IT professionals, and outdoorsy types. To their surprise, they found that the fifth-largest demographic of Subarus were lesbians.
After conducting more research, it turned out that lesbians liked Subarus because they were great for outdoor trips and hauling cargo, but weren't as large as SUVs or trucks. As a result of these findings, Subaru decided to market directly to lesbians.
This was somewhat of a risky move, as LGBTQ+ rights were not as celebrated in the ‘90s as they are today. Congress had passed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres had not yet come out, and Ikea was facing boycotts for running an ad that featured a gay couple.
As such, the Subaru ads were a little discrete. They marketed their cars with double entendre taglines like "Get Out. And Stay Out," and "It's Not a Choice. It's the Way We're Built." In response, both the straight and LGBTQ+ communities grew to love these ads for their cleverness and inclusion.
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