The Subaru SRD-1 (Subaru Research and Design) was a

luxury Luxury may refer to: *Luxury goods, an economic good or service for which demand increases more than proportionally as income rises *Luxury tax, tax on products not considered essential, such as expensive cars **Luxury tax (sports), surcharge put ...

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

that was never put into production.

Design

SRD-1 was the first concept car from Subaru Research and Design in

Cypress, California Cypress is a city in northwestern Orange County within Southern California. Its population was 50,151 at the 2020 census. History The first people living in the area now known as Cypress were the Gabrieleno, a Native American tribe of the Ton ...

. The styling was described as having "a very short nose and long passenger compartment designed to provide plenty of room for people and cargo" at the 1990

Chicago Auto Show The Chicago Auto Show is held annually in February at Chicago's McCormick Place convention center. It is the largest auto show in North America. History Samuel Miles, formerly a promoter of bicycle shows, produced the first "official" Chic ...

. According to the double-sided color placard, the SRD-1 was "an innovative dream wagon concept for the '90s and beyond". The same placard stated that Subaru developed the car because the company "has long been recognized as having the most popular line of import station wagons in the US" and that "to strengthen this leadership position, Subaru Research & Design developed the SRD-1, a family

station wagon A station wagon ( US, also wagon) or estate car ( UK, also estate), is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door ( ...

concept car, with characteristic attention to the future needs of the mature wagon users in the latter half of he1990s".

Technical

It was supplied with a 3.3-liter DOHC 24-valve

horizontally opposed A flat engine is a piston engine where the cylinders are located on either side of a central crankshaft. Flat engines are also known as horizontally opposed engines, however this is distinct from the less common opposed-piston engine design, wh ...

6-cylinder engine The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categorize ...

and full-time

4-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

with electronically controlled center differential.

Subaru Research and Development, Inc.

Subaru Research and Design (SRD) was founded in California in 1986. The headquarters were moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1998, and the company was renamed Subaru Research and Development, Inc. later that year. The move facilitated SRD's primary mission of supporting emission testing and certification of Subaru vehicles at the EPA National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory in Ann Arbor. Other concepts proposed by SRD included: * SRD-II, a one-seat lightweight vehicle designed to ease gridlock by catering to the single-driver market in southern California which would win a 1994 ''Discover'' magazine award. * SHARC, the "Subaru Highway Automated Response Concept" electric autonomous police vehicle, which won the 2012

Los Angeles Auto Show The Los Angeles Auto Show is an annual auto show held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in early December. The LA Auto Show is an OICA sanctioned international exhibition. It is open to the public for ten days each year, filling of exhibit s ...

Design Challenge.

In popular media

* The SRD-1 appeared in the 1991 film ''

Bis ans Ende der Welt ''Until the End of the World'' (german: Bis ans Ende der Welt; french: Jusqu'au bout du monde) is a 1991 science fiction adventure drama film directed by German filmmaker Wim Wenders. Set at the turn of the millennium in the shadow of a world- ...

''.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Subaru Srd-1 SRD-1 Cars powered by boxer engines