CarBrandLogos archive · Subaru · 1971

SubaruLeone

The compact that gave Subaru four-wheel drive and a reason to exist.

Photo: OSX · Public domain

The story

A defining chapter in Subaru history.

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

Origins

Replacing the Subaru 1000 in 1971, the Leone carried over the layout its predecessor had established: a flat-four hung ahead of the front axle driving the front wheels, unusual company for a Japanese compact of the period. What made it matter arrived a year later, when Subaru put a part-time four-wheel-drive system into the estate at the request of a Japanese electric utility that needed something surefooted for mountain service roads.

1985Subaru Brat · Subarubratman at English Wikipedia · Public domain

Design and engineering

That combination, a boxer engine and drive to all four wheels in an ordinary family car rather than an off-roader, became the whole Subaru proposition. In America the Leone was sold simply as the DL and GL, and it found buyers in snowbelt states and rural areas who had previously been choosing between a car that could not cope and a truck they did not want. Assembly even ran in Waitara, New Zealand, for that market.

Isuzu Geminet2 · Kuha455405 · CC BY-SA 3.0

In production

The Leone ran through three generations to 1994, picking up a hill-holder, air suspension on some versions, and a run of rally entries that established Subaru in the sport long before the World Rally Championship years. It was never a fashionable car and rarely a fast one, but it defined the customer Subaru still sells to. The Impreza took over the name's job in 1992.

1978 Subaru DL 2dr sdn rear · Rex Gray from Southern California;cropped, plates blurred by uploader Mr.choppers · CC BY 2.0

At a glance