The Subaru Leone was a compact car built from 1971 to 1994. It replaced the Subaru 1000 and was the first compact Subaru to offer four-wheel drive, in a station wagon of 1972 — the first mass-produced four-wheel-drive passenger car.
Subaru Leone at a glance
| Maker | Subaru, Japan |
|---|---|
| Production | 1971–1994 |
| Replaced | Subaru 1000 |
| Replaced by | Subaru Impreza |
| Engine | EA flat-four, 1.2 and 1.4 litres, 1.6 from 1976 |
| Layout | front-wheel drive; four-wheel drive from 1972 |
| First generation | coupé from 7 October 1971 |
| Sedans | two- and four-door from April 1972 |
| Four-wheel-drive wagon | model A67 from September 1972 |
| Gearbox | four- and five-speed manual, three-speed automatic from 1975 |
| Export names | DL, GL, GLF, GL-10, RX, L-series, Loyale |
| In Israel | about 30 per cent of the market, 220,000–250,000 cars |
Based on one source, the English Wikipedia article on the Subaru Leone.
History of the Subaru Leone
The Leone, whose name is Italian for lion, was released on 7 October 1971 as a front-wheel-drive coupé in DL, GL and GSR trim. Two- and four-door sedans followed in April 1972 and the four-wheel-drive station wagon in September 1972; it reached the United States in 1974 as a 1975 model. Subaru launched the car before the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo to stress its durability in bad weather.
Four-wheel drive for everyone
Until then four-wheel drive had been limited almost entirely to off-road vehicles, apart from the very expensive Jensen FF. Subaru had tested the idea with a small batch of four-wheel-drive FF-1 1300G wagons in 1971, and the Leone made it a mass-market option. That feature defined Subaru through the 1970s and 1980s and produced particularly strong sales in Switzerland and Colorado. The car competed with the Toyota Corolla, Nissan Sunny, Honda Civic, Mazda Familia, Isuzu Gemini and Mitsubishi Lancer.
The design was influenced by Subaru’s alliance with Nissan, signed in 1968, especially the long bonnet and short boot that Nissan was using at the time. A 1400 RX coupé, based on the GSR, was one of the first Japanese cars with four-wheel disc brakes, a sport-tuned suspension and a five-speed gearbox. A two-door hardtop coupé with different bodywork arrived in June 1973, and a four-wheel-drive sedan in 1975. The Leone also began Subaru’s tradition of frameless side windows.
Engines started as 1.2 and 1.4-litre carburetted flat-fours; a 1.1-litre from the FF-1 was kept for the Japanese 1100 van for a few years. Tighter emissions rules removed the 1.2 from the sedan in September 1975 and a 1.6-litre unit was added for 1976, reaching Europe in 1977 with 83 PS. Gearboxes were four- and five-speed manuals plus a three-speed automatic from 1975, rear brakes were drums except on the RX and, unusually, the handbrake worked on the front wheels.
Update and exports
A revised range arrived in March 1977 with smoother body panels, a new dashboard and a rear track 40 mm wider, and in November 1977 the Leone Grand Am-T became the top model with American-style safety bumpers. Because Subaru’s small kei cars were rarely sold abroad, the Leone was known in major markets by its trim names — DL, GL, GLF, GL-10 and RX — and is often called simply the Subaru GL or L-series. In Australia and New Zealand it arrived in 1973 and the wagon came in 1975; many versions were also assembled from kits in New Zealand from 1978.
In Israel, where an Arab League boycott kept other Japanese brands out between 1973 and 1991, the Leone took about 30 per cent of the passenger car market, with roughly 220,000 to 250,000 sold. The model stayed in production until 1994 and was replaced by the Impreza, which used a shortened version of the Legacy platform.
Design and features
- First compact Subaru: the replacement for the 1000 and the car above the Rex.
- Four-wheel drive: the first mass-produced four-wheel-drive passenger car, from 1972.
- Trim-name exports: DL, GL, GLF, GL-10 and RX in place of the Leone name.
- Frameless windows: a Subaru tradition that started with the Leone.
- Front-wheel handbrake: an unusual arrangement kept from the early cars.
Subaru Leone versions
- Coupé (1971): the launch body in DL, GL and GSR trim.
- Sedans (1972): two- and four-door models.
- 4WD wagon (1972): model A67, the car that made four-wheel drive mainstream.
- 1400 RX coupé: four-wheel disc brakes, sport suspension, five-speed gearbox.
- Hardtop coupé (1973): FL, GF and GFT models with formal bodywork.
- Loyale: the American name for the later Leone.
The Leone replaced the Subaru 1000 and was replaced by the Impreza. More Subarus are in the Subaru collection.
Video: My Subaru Leone RX
Video by tjani8 on YouTube.
Sources
- Subaru Leone, English Wikipedia: history, engines, four-wheel drive, markets
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