Several discontinued Subaru models have name recognition, unique design features, and cult followings that might support a comeback.
Subaru has been selling cars in America for over 50 years, and, in that time, it’s built a reputation for reliability, off-road capability, and rugged vehicles in many different shapes and sizes. High-performance rally cars are a relative constant for Subaru over the years, with a number of iconic racecars throughout its history as well. Over the last five decades, Subaru has come out with some icons on the dirt as well as historically-significant road-going vehicles. And some of those road-going icons are still in production, but many have been discontinued.
Subaru is like most other automakers in the sense that many of its models have come and gone over the years. Even if a model is popular, shifting industry regulations or brand direction could relegate a vehicle to the scrap heap. But not all of the deceased Subaru models deserve to stay dead. There are several discontinued Subaru models that have name recognition, unique design features, and cult followings that could support a comeback. Out of all the Subarus that have come and gone, these five deserve a second chance.Subaru Brat
There are few vehicles as quirky or as iconic in their strangeness as the Subaru Brat. The Brat was available in the United States for less than a decade, lasting from just 1978 until 1987, but over the years it has gained cult-classic levels of enthusiasm, with surprisingly high market values. BRAT is technically an acronym for Bi-Drive Recreational All-Terrain Transporter (with the Bi-Drive referring to all-wheel drive), alluding to the Brat’s built-in off-road capability. A small and inexpensive pickup, the Brat was rated by the EPA with fuel economy estimates as high as 28 mpg highway in the 1980s. It had curb appeal, but it was more than just an attractive truck — it was built to get around America’s Chicken Tax.
The Chicken Tax was (and still is) a 25 percent tax on imported light trucks – i.e. the Brat. So, Subaru put a couple of rear-facing seats in the bed of the Brat and classified as a passenger vehicle instead of a truck, reducing the import tax to a comparatively miniscule 2.5 percent. Theoretically, passengers would sit in the bed of a pickup truck with no protection from the elements, but many owners removed the seats, giving the Brat maximum utility as a pickup.
