CarBrandLogos archive · Subaru · 1958

SubaruSubaru 360

The tiny rear-engined bug that turned an aircraft firm into a carmaker.

Photo: Mytho88 · CC BY-SA 3.0

The story

A defining chapter in Subaru history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Subaru 360, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Fuji Heavy Industries came out of the aircraft business, and it showed. When the company built its first proper car in 1958, the engineers approached Japan's kei-class rules the way an airframe designer would: keep the structure light and let the small engine do less work. Shinroku Momose led the project, and the result was a monocoque body so thin and light that the 356 cc two-stroke twin hung out behind the rear axle could move four people without embarrassment.

Subaru Subaru 360 · TTTNIS · CC0

Design and engineering

The shape earned it the nickname tentomushi, ladybug, and it fitted Japan in the late 1950s exactly. Motorcycles and three-wheelers were what most families could afford; the 360 offered a roof, doors and a back seat within the tax and licensing bracket that made ownership possible. It stayed in production until 1971, spawning a cabrio coach and a three-door wagon along the way, and it was replaced by the R-2.

1969 Subaru 360 rear · TTTNIS · CC0

In production

Its American chapter is the odd one. Malcolm Bricklin imported the 360 to the United States in the late 1960s on the argument that anything under 1,000 pounds escaped federal safety standards. Consumer Reports tested one against American traffic and rated it Not Acceptable, and sales collapsed. What survived was the company itself. Subaru of America existed because of the 360, and the rear-engined microcar bought Fuji Heavy the years it needed to develop the boxer-engined, four-wheel-drive cars that would actually define it.

1960 Subaru 360 Convertible interior · TTTNIS · CC0

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Engine

356&nbsp

Designer

Shinroku Momose

Body

2-door Sedan

Technical specification

The Subaru 360, in detail.

Production: 1958–1971
Class: Microcar
Body style: 2-door Sedan (car); sedan; 2-door cabrio coach; 3-door station wagon
Layout: RR layout
Engine: 356 cc List of Subaru engines#Two Cylinder; EK31 Straight-twin engine; I2; 356 cc List of Subaru engines#Two Cylinder; EK32 I2; 423 cc List of Subaru engines#Two Cylinder; EK51 I2
Designer: Shinroku Momose
Assembly: Japan: Otakita Plant, Ōta, Gunma
Manufacturer: Subaru