The End of an Era: the Subaru Factory Stops Producing “K” Cars

J-List is based in Gunma, a prefecture said to be shaped like a crane in flight, located in the exact center of Japan’s main island of Honshu. We’re about as far as you can get from the sea in Japan, which is a bad thing if you’re a fan of fresh sushi, but we weren’t sorry to be far from the tsunamis last March. Besides being famous for some of Japan’s most beautiful mountains — which are the most convenient place to dump a body when there’s a murder in Tokyo, hence a lot of bodies turn up here — Gunma has been an important manufacturing hub for Japan over the years and is the home of the Subaru Motor Corp. One of the most important cars in the history of postwar Japan was the Subaru 360, the first kei-class lightweight vehicle to gain a following inside Japan, and one of Japan’s first successful export vehicles. Now an era is ending, as production of this class of vehicles ends after half a century, moving to plants operated by the affiliated companies of Toyota and Daihatsu.

(“K” cars, from 軽自動車, are the lightest type of vehicle licensed to drive on the streets. They’re very light and easy to drive, though most wouldn’t be street legal in the U.S.)

Fun fact: the Fuji Heavy Industries factory near J-List is where the “Zero” fighters were built during WWII.