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The history of Subaru Subaru 360, the ancestor of K car
Kei? Car (hereinafter referred to as K car) is a unique mini-car in Japan. Now K-Car refers to mini-cars restricted by Japanese laws and regulations. Some necessary parameters were stipulated in the previous three generations of laws and regulations, such as engine displacement not exceeding 660cc, upper horsepower limit of 64 horses, body length not exceeding 3.4 meters, body width not exceeding 1.48 meters, and body height not exceeding 2 meters. However, K-Car is nothing new; After the end of World War II, Japan experienced years of war, devastation and economic decline. Because of low income, most Japanese citizens can't afford cars. In order to increase automobile sales and promote the development of automobile industry, Japan decided to develop Japan's "national car" in 1949, which directly led to the emergence of the concept of K car.

Although the original intention is good, where are the consumer groups in Japan? Even the Japanese underworld, which has gained great benefits in the process of reconstruction, is busy supporting national construction, not to mention civilians. Therefore, the legislation set by 1949 has not been accepted and corresponding by the car factory. In addition, the mechanical specifications are too dead, and the upper limit of exhaust volume set by 100cc/ 150cc. How can the power output that even the engineers in the car factory are dissatisfied with be recognized by the market? So in 1995, the first version of the law was revised to the upper limit of 360cc. With the strong support of the Japanese government, Japanese car companies began to introduce mini-cars with low price, low fuel consumption and small body. One of them looks like Volkswagen? Beetle (Volkswagen Beetle) Subaru 360. Subaru 360 is a four-seat mini-car developed by prototype, code-named K- 10. It was first introduced by Subaru in 1958, and it is also the second car produced by Subaru.

Further reading: the origin of Subaru automobile factory

1945 After World War II, Nakajima Aircraft was reorganized into Subaru Industry (predecessor of Subaru Heavy Industry). The following year, we began to develop and manufacture Subaru Rabbit Sukeda (Fuji? Rabbit? Scooter). Gunma Isesaki Factory began to manufacture lightweight bus bodies in 1947, and then imitated American buses in 1949, and independently developed the first bus with rear engine and frameless single structure (or stressed skin structure) in Japanese automobile history. Both engine and single metal structure technology are related to the background of its aircraft manufacturer. 1950, under the command of GHQ (note 1), Subaru industry was split into 12 companies, Donlon and Sanying factories were merged into Subaru industry, and Isesaki factory was reorganized into Subaru automobile industry. Among the 12 companies, five companies, including Tokyo Subaru Industry, Subaru Industry, Subaru Automobile Industry, Omiya Subaru Industry and Utsunomiya Automobile, raised funds to set up Fuji Heavy Industries on 1953. Subaru automobile industry was reorganized from Isesaki factory, and began to develop passenger cars from 1952. First, the 1 500c.c engine and the four-door Subaru 1500 with single structure were tried.

Note 1: Allied Supreme Commander General Command, Allied Supreme Command, referred to as General Alliance or General Government for short, is also called General Command in Japan (English: General? Headquarters (GHQ for short) is a title of General douglas macarthur, commander of the US Far East Army and commander-in-chief of the US military stationed in Japan during the Japanese allied occupation.

Photo: Subaru? 360 is one of the earliest K cars in Japan. If you exclude Suzulight, which completely transplanted the concept of ordinary cars, Subaru 360 should be considered as the first specially designed Kei-Car, with a very round appearance.

Subaru? The most well-known feature of 360 is that it looks like the public? The design of the Beetle; In fact, after World War II, Japanese automakers started almost from scratch, and their situation was the same as that of our own brands many years ago. They need to imitate foreign successful models to gain market recognition, so most of the early Japanese cars will imitate or even copy the designs of European and American classic models. As a "Japanese national car", Subaru? 360 chose Volkswagen? Beetles are used as imitation objects. Another example is the Toyota 2000GT we once launched, which is like Jaguar. Model E and Honda S500 are imitations of MGA, etc. Imitation in the early stage of starting a business is normal. All the newly established large enterprises in the world have such a history. Even the tall ones, like the military industry, are imitations. Weapons copied by the United States from the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union from the United States abound, but the key point is that imitation, imitation and even imitation can only be regarded as a way for enterprises to reduce risks and avoid detours in the initial stage, but not for a long time.

Photo: Although Subaru? The design of 360 imitates the public? Beetle, but Subaru made many changes to the design.

Photo: Is the "suicide" gate also Subaru? The characteristic design of 360 is convenient for the rear passengers to get on the bus; However, some consumers have reported that the doors of suicide cars are at risk of being accidentally opened by the wind when driving at high speed.

It is worth mentioning that although it is an old car from the 1950s, Subaru? However, the 360 adopted a load-bearing frame design very early. After the frame is made of steel, the doors and ceilings are made of FRP. This can further reduce the weight of the car body and reduce the production cost. You know, in this small country of Japan, steel is a very precious resource.

Photo: Subaru? 360 front and rear wheels are suspended by trailing arms, with rear engine and rear drive layout.

Photo: It is the most basic propaganda rule of commodity society to shoot what kind of advertisements are made according to what kind of cars are positioned. But now looking back at the advertisements of China car companies, they are all warm family feelings of cars, and they are really speechless.

Figure: There was only one speedometer on the center console of the earliest model, and its function was quite simple.

Figure: The ultra-thin seat is straight and hard, just to make room for the back row.

Figure: The comfort of this kind of seat is not much different from that of the bus seat, which plays the role of "having a back row".

Figure: However, although the seat comfort is worrying, the rear space is still quite optimistic.

Photo: Even sumo wrestlers can squeeze into Subaru? In the 360 car, although the uncle will be squeezed out of breath after getting on the bus, for such a small mini-car, such internal space is still quite excellent.

As for the power part, at that time, the Japanese government stipulated that K-Car should use a maximum engine of 360cc, while Subaru? 360 adopts 356cc EK3 1 twin-cylinder engine, and adopts rear-mounted rear-drive layout, which is also to reduce production cost. The 356cc engine is matched with a 3-speed manual gearbox, and Subaru has also introduced a 4-speed manual gearbox and a 3-speed "automatic clutch" gearbox (manual gearbox with automatic control clutch).

Figure: The fuel consumption of the twin-cylinder engine code-named EK3 1 is only 3.6 liters per 100 kilometers. The early version can output about 16 horsepower, and later it was upgraded to 25 horsepower. Due to Japanese regulations, although Subaru? 360 theoretically has the strength of 100km/h, but its speed was forced to be limited to 40km/h, which was the speed limit of Japanese urban roads at that time.

Figure: These three control levers behind the shift lever, "C" stands for choke valve, which is used to start the engine; "H" stands for heater, which is used to start the air conditioner, and "F" stands for fuel, because Subaru? The 360 is not equipped with an oil pump, but uses gravity to make gasoline flow and deliver it to the carburetor, so this F rod is used to open or cut off the oil circuit.

To further expand Subaru? The audience of 360, just like today's K car, Subaru launched a slightly different "sub-model", namely 360? Customized, 360? Convertible (convertible) and 360? Young? SS, of which 360? Young? SS is equipped with an upgraded EK32 engine, and its power "surges" to 36 horsepower.

Photo: Subaru? 360? Custom can be regarded as a mini station wagon with more storage space in the back.

Photo: Subaru? 360? Young? SS is a "high-performance" model with a special "SS" drawbead on the front.

Photo: Subaru? 360? Young? SS is equipped with EK32 engine, the displacement is still 356cc, and the power is increased to 36 horsepower.

In addition to the Japanese domestic market, the early Subaru? 360 has also tried to export to the international market; Subaru produced nearly 10,000 vehicles equipped with EK5 1 in 1960s. Left rudder version of Subaru with 423cc engine? 360 and sent to Australia and the United States. However, this hot-selling mini-car in Japan eventually encountered an overheating crisis in Australia, but it was unsalable in the United States because of its questionable safety and serious lack of power (after World War II, compared with other victorious countries and defeated countries, the United States was really like heaven and hell, and its prosperity can be seen from its car sales and car use concept. From the end of World War II to the end of 1950s, American automobile sales reached millions, and the streets were full of V8 engines. Subaru's export plan ended in complete failure. It was K-Car's acclimatization in the international market that led Japanese manufacturers to gradually use K-Car as a local special model instead of "wasting" the cost and trying to export it to other countries or regions.

Photo: Subaru once exported a batch of left rudder 360 to the Australian and American markets, but unfortunately it was unsalable because of acclimatization; It is said that there were a large number of overseas versions of Subaru? 360 has been in the hands of dealers for three or four years and has not been sold.

Photo: Except K-car, which was popular in China in 1990s? In addition, all models have left-hand drive, so there are really few Kei-Car with pure left-hand drive.

Photo: Left rudder version of Subaru? 360 changed clothes. EK5 1? 423cc engine, so it will also be called Subaru? 450 or Subaru? Maia, and the bottom of the speedometer of these left-hand drive models has reached120km/h/h. If it has not been changed, I wonder if it can really run at this speed?

But even Subaru? 360 was a great failure in the international market, but before 197 1 stopped production, it reached an amazing output of 392,000 units, and most of this output was digested by the Japanese domestic market. What about Subaru? The 360 has indeed become a veritable "Japanese national car."

Subaru imitated the German Beetle and became a "Japanese national car", which promoted the development of the unique K-Car and opened the legendary history of Subaru in the car world. On the other hand, domestic independent brands, although imitation is indeed a shortcut to grow and develop without experience, when will Geely and the Great Wall be? Wall), Chery and even BYD are abandoning plagiarism and trying to find their own design features; Some domestic manufacturers stubbornly take this "magic weapon" without connotation to make money, and brazenly take the design of successful foreign models as their own, and take pride in it. For some consumers, buying a self-owned brand car that looks like a luxury car at a low price will have a "face". This kind of consumer is the source of sales of this kind of brand, but these brands can't develop in the accumulation of money. Once domestic consumers' awareness of shanzhai cars is improved, and more and more people regard shanzhai cars as a symbol of "vulgarity" and "rusticity", then these manufacturers who stop at the imitation level will be impacted or even taken back. In fact, for manufacturers in the early stage of development, imitation is not a shameful thing, but a learning process; But "applying what you have learned" and finding your own development direction is the right way for an automobile manufacturer to become stronger and bigger.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.