Subaru 360 so tiny it wasn’t considered a car
Although Subaru is a well established Japanese automobile manufacturer with an excellent line of vehicles, it didn’t start out as a car builder. Like most Japanese automobile manufacturers, Subaru grew from another type of business.
It dates to the 1917 creation of the Aeronautical Research Laboratory by Chikuhei Nakajiama in Ota City, Japan. It became Nakajiama Aircraft Co. in 1931 and built airplanes until the end of the Second World War.
After the war, Nakajiama Aircraft was prohibited by the occupying forces from producing airplanes so it was re-organized as Fuji Sangyo Co. to build products like bus bodies and engines. Then, in 1950, the occupying Allies divided the company into 12 smaller firms, six of whom reunited three years later to become Fuji Heavy Industries.
Fuji grew into a huge enterprise engaged in aircraft, ship building and railways. It also made a motor scooter called the Rabbit.
Fuji established an automobile arm called Subaru, named after the Pleiades group of six stars in the Taurus constellation of Greek mythology. The six stars in the Subaru badge were inspired by this mythological origin and represent the six companies in the Fuji conglomerate.
Fuji began building cars in 1958, starting with the Subaru 360, a tiny four-passenger vehicle with two rear-hinged, “suicide doors” and no luggage space. A rear transversely-mounted two-stroke, inline two cylinder, air cooled, 356 cc engine drove the rear wheels through a three-speed, later four-speed, manual transmission. Suspension was four wheel independent using torsion bars.
Engine displacement was kept below 360 cc to qualify for Japan’s “360 Class” that was lightly taxed, exempt from the government’s regular rigorous inspections, and subject to strict overall size limits. They were usually a family’s first car after a motorcycle and sidecar.
Although popular in Japan, Fuji was reluctant to export the 360 to America because it feared the cost of meeting U.S. safety and emissions regulations. An entrepreneur named Malcolm Bricklin would change that.
Bricklin was already importing Rabbit scooters so he was associated with Fuji. He was interested in the Subaru car and discovered something Fuji had missed: a vehicle weighing less than 454 kg wasn’t considered a car, so was exempt from emissions and safety regulations.
In the late 1960s Bricklin and partner Harvey Lamm formed Philadelphia-based Subaru of America, Inc., and began importing 360s in 1968.
While the Subaru 360 was accepted in Japan, North America’s big car culture was a different environment. The 360 was even smaller than the British Motor Corp. Mini which was considered something of a microcar.
The 360’s wheelbase was 229 mm less than the Mini’s 2032 mm, and its 2995 mm length was 61 mm shorter. At 444 kg it weighed 163 kg less.
The 360 could not be called stylish; as Road & Track (3/69) opined: “The car itself is of uncommon ugliness …”
Not only was the Subaru 360 tiny, performance was modest to the point of being dangerous. R&T reported a 90 km/h top speed, barely enough to keep up with slower traffic, at which the tiny 25 horsepower engine was screaming at over 5000 rpm. R&T reported an agonizingly slow acceleration to 80 km/h time of 36.7 seconds.
Bricklin and Lamm promoted the 360’s low price and high fuel economy, but it was a difficult sell in the land of cheap gasoline. They managed to establish several Subaru dealers in Pennsylvania and neighbouring states, and as far west as California.
The 360’s sales were modest until the April 1969 Consumer Reports magazine called it The Most Unsafe Car in America. Sales died completely. Dealers refused any more cars and Subaru of America’s bankers started pressing for loan payments.
A desperate Bricklin asked Subaru for a larger car, and sought new financing. A deal was finally made, designed to push Bricklin out. As part of his 1971 settlement, Bricklin got 1,000 unsold 360s.
Bricklin found another investor and formed FasTrack International Inc., to sell franchises that included 10 Subaru 360s and the right to build small tracks where the rented 360s could race. Investor Leon Stern, soon found his money going to unrelated enterprises and sued Bricklin. Stern was awarded a $4-million US judgement in 1974.
Although the Subaru 360 slid into obscurity, Subaru overcame its tarnished reputation and produced a line of well respected cars and a loyal customer base. With Lamm’s guidance, and later its own American headquarters and plant, Subaru established a strong North American presence.
Malcolm Bricklin, ever the promoter, went on to other things including the star-crossed, New Brunswick-built Bricklin gullwing sports car. The province lost $23 million on the venture before production ended in 1975.