Back in 1966 Fuji Heavy Industries gave birth to the Subaru 1000, a small four-door sedan with a 1.0-litre horizontally-opposed four-cylinder engine. The engine design was considered strange at the time but Fuji Heavy, who had experience building flat engines for the Japanese WWII fighters, knew they had a good design.

Two more cylinders were added in 1987 in a quest for more power and in 1989 the company introduced a 2.0-litre double overhead camshaft engine with a turbo-charger, which paved the way for Subaru’s success on the World Rallying stage. Subaru’s next-generation Impreza will continue to use a boxer engine with plans for a diesel version in the pipeline to suit European demand.