Subaru is the automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI). Subaru is a Japanese word meaning unite, as well as a term identifying a cluster of six stars, which the Greeks called the Pleiades - part of the Taurus constellation. According to Greek mythology, Atlas daughters turned into this group of stars. In 1953, five Japanese companies merged to form Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. The new corporation adopted the Subaru cluster of stars as the official logo for its line of automobiles. Subaru is internationally known for their use of the boxer engine layout similar to those in cars like the Volkswagen Beetle and Porsche 911, in most of their vehicles above 1500 cc as well as their use of the all wheel drive drive-train layout, the 4x4 first introduced in 1972, and the AWD became standard equipment for mid-size and smaller cars in most international markets as of 1996, and is now standard in all US market Subaru vehicles.