Subaru Sambar

The Subaru Sambar is a cabover truck and microvan manufactured and marketed by Subaru as Japan's second truck compliant with the country's strict Keitora (軽トラ) or Kei vehicle tax class, after the Kurogane Baby. Introduced in 1961 in microvan and Kei pickup configurations, the Sambar remains in production, now in its eighth generation — beginning with the seventh generation as a rebadged Daihatsu Hijet. Since its introduction, the Sambar has used a rear engine, rear wheel drive layout with body-on-frame rather than unibody construction. The first two generations used the air-cooled engine from the Subaru 360 and later generations used the water-cooled engine from the Subaru Rex, Vivio and the Pleo. Four-wheel drive became optional in 1980. Sambar models were manufactured in China as the Sanba (Chinese: 三八, romanized: Sānbā) as well as in Finland in a joint venture with Elcat Automotive. Passenger variants of the Sambar were later marketed as the Subaru Dias Wagon. With the Sambar, named after a species of deer, Subaru may have borrowed from the Volkswagen Type 2 (1951–1967) van — using a marketing name very similar to the Volkswagen's upper trim level, the Samba, and using a similar rear-drive, rear air-cooled engine, cabover configuration. The Sambar was the second Kei truck (after the Kurogane) and was the last Kei-compliant vehicle to use a rear-engine, rear-drive layout.