The Subaru 360

A little known fact is that Subaru is a division of Fuji Heavy Industries, a Japanese multinational transportation company. In 1958, Subaru began production on their first widely popular car, the 360, so named for the 356 cc engine. Japan was becoming crowded in the wake of rapid industrialization after WWII, so in 1955 the Japanese government created a new car class, "kei jidosha" (colloquially known as "kei car") which set limits on width and engine displacement. The engine displacement limit for a kei car at that time was 360 cc.

While the economical design was perfect for a Japan just becoming motorized, it didn't go over well when Malcolm Bricklin brought it stateside in 1968. By this time, the design was ten years old, and it would have been outclassed even had it been introduced in the USA at the same time as its Japanese introduction. 

It weighed 993 pounds; safety standards of the time only applied to vehicles weighing over 1,000 pounds. The little car made no pretense of following many of the safety standards. It was lucky even to have seat belts. The fuel economy was found to be approximately equal to the Volkswagen Beetle, then  the USA's number one selling imported car. The price, at $1,297, was cheap, but only a few hundred dollars cheaper than the Beetle. 

In the end, only 10,000 were sold in the USA before the car was discontinued in 1971. Though it was a flop, later Subarus sold much better. Today's Subarus have won many awards and the company is very successful.

Listen to the Audio Review at https://soundcloud.com/carsthatareunusual/subaru-podcast-11-05-14