You have to hand it to Volkswagen. The carmaker’s brilliant “It’s ugly, but it gets you there” campaign, first seen in 1969, broke through the media clutter, and helped to establish Volkswagen as a maker of functional, reliable, and decidedly counter-culture vehicles.
1968 Subaru 360
Developed by DDB, the “It’s ugly” ads were part of a series of humorous and bravely brand self-deprecating ads that won the agency a number of awards, plus a long-term relationship with VW.
But for all of its shiny, new-think polish, the VW campaign did not feature the first auto ad to refer to the vehicle being promoted as ugly. That honor goes to Subaru.
History
Beating VW to the ugly punch by about 12 months, the folks at the newly-established Subaru of America slapped together an early ad for three products the company would import to the U.S., including a tiny van, a tiny pickup, and a miniature car called the 360. It was the 360 that Subaru marketing folks decided to suggest was ill favored by the company’s design team.
The Subaru tagline “Cheap and ugly does it!” is seen at the top of the ad shared here, and if we’re being fair, we’re inclined to agree that the 360 was pretty awkward looking.
But not only was the 360 ugly, it was also unsafe. Though the car’s sub $1300 base price was attractive, Consumer Reports labelled the car “not acceptable,” for a number of reasons.
Subaru 360
Because the 360 came in just under 1000 pounds—a 2024 Subaru Impreza starts around 3200 pounds—it was not subject to the standard safety requirements expected of most cars on the road at the time. And, while the Beetle was generally considered slow back in the day, the 2200-pound German economy car would reach 75 mph on a good day. The 360, however, powered by a 423-cc 2-stroke 2-cylinder engine, was reported to have a maximum velocity of between 51 and 59 mph, depending on who you want to believe.
Malcolm Bricklin
For those not in the know, no less an automotive icon than Malcom Bricklin was responsible for bringing Subaru to America. This is the same Malcom Bricklin who brought America the Bricklin SV-1 sports car (1974), International Automobile Importers (1982), Yugo (1985), Chery (2002), and the Bricklin 3EV (2024).
(International Automobile Importers was created to import the Fiat X1/9 and 2000 sports cars after Fiat ceased doing so itself. The Chery operation was created to import Chinese vehicle built by maker Chery to the U.S.)
Sales
All told, Bricklin imported 10,000 360s to the U.S., as well as a small number of the aforementioned vans and pickups. Bricklin himself left Subaru in 1971 after taking the American business public. Before leaving, Bricklin began importing the Subaru FF-1 Star, a conventional-looking small sedan with significantly more power than the 360. In many ways, the Star was really the first American-market Subaru—at least in spirit.
As for the ad, we have to hand it to Subaru/Bricklin for embracing the product’s weakness and attempting to spin it as a quirky positive. We’d like to think that Malcolm himself was responsible for the ad copy. Also, unlike the Beetle, the 360 was, truly, kinda ugly.
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Subaru 360 Pictures
(Click below for enlarged images)
