The Story Behind The Subaru 360 Cheap And Ugly Campaign

Was the Subaru 360 Cheap And Ugly? The marketing genius of Malcom Bricklin.

In the late 1960s, auto marketing had its share of bravado, but few automakers would embrace a message like the one modeled by Subaru’s first U.S. foray. The story of how the little Subaru 360 entered the American market, with a tagline that leaned into its own deficiencies, is as much about daring authenticity as it is about lessons in brand evolution.

Subaru Setting the Scene

Malcolm Bricklin (who would go on to sponsor and launch many automotive ventures) founded Subaru of America in 1968, forging an exclusive import agreement with Japan’s Fuji Heavy Industries (now named Subaru Corporation). The company’s first American-market vehicle: the Subaru 360. Small, lightweight, inexpensive. It weighed under 1,000 pounds which meant it was exempt from many U.S. automotive safety regulations.

Its U.S. price tag: around $1,297 (equivalent to about $11,978 in 2025).

Subaru 360 Cheap And Ugly: The Bold Tagline

Rather than disguise its modest size or economy status, Subaru went in the opposite direction: the 360 was marketed in the U.S. with the slogan “Cheap and Ugly does it!” (or variations thereof) in print and advertising. In effect, the brand admitted upfront that the car wasn’t a looker and that its dollar cost was a major point of differentiation. It became a way to set appropriate expectations, and perhaps appeal to buyers who valued frugality and practicality over flash.

The Subaru 360 Cheap And Ugly Strategy & What It Meant

Why:

• The small size and low price of the model positioned it against the typical American fleet of large sedans and muscle cars.
• The car’s weight-based exemption from safety and emissions regs made it feasible to import economically.
• Bricklin and Subaru opted to embrace the car’s limitations rather than attempt to mask them, hoping to carve out a niche.

What Subaru 360 Cheap And Ugly Meant:

• The candid slogan disarmed critics: by acknowledging “cheap and ugly,” the brand tried to frame value and utility as virtues.
• It built an early identity of being different, modest, and anti-flash, setting the stage for the brand’s later shift toward more refined but still purposeful vehicles.
• The message risked being read as self-deprecating, and indeed, the early 360 did face heavy criticism for performance and safety.

The Subaru 360 Cheap And Ugly Reality Check

Despite the clever positioning, the Subaru 360’s U.S. results were modest at best. Criticisms included:

• Slow performance (0–60 mph in about 37.5 seconds in one test) and minimal protection in crash scenarios.
• A mismatch between the American desire for spaciousness/power and what the microcar offered.
• Sales eventually stalled; U.S. importation of the 360 series ceased by around 1970.

Why It Still Matters

• Honesty in branding: Subaru’s bold declaration of its own drawbacks was rare then, and sets a contrast to the gloss-first approach many brands adopt.
• From humble roots to distinct identity: What begins as an ultra-budget microcar evolves into a maker of rally-bred iconoclasts and premium AWD machines.
• Culture of difference: The “cheap and ugly” ad reminds us that being different and acknowledging imperfections can become a foundational part of a brand’s DNA.
• Context matters: A car that seems quirky or underpowered in one era may become a cult classic in another, as evidenced by the rising appreciation of the 360 in classic-car circles.

In 1968, the Subaru 360 marched into the U.S. with a tagline that turned its limitations into a rallying cry: “Cheap and Ugly does it!” The gambit didn’t yield immediate triumph, but it laid an honest, distinctive marker in the brand’s journey. Today, the Subaru badge is known for all-wheel-drive performance, driver-community loyalty, and thoughtful engineering. Yet the memory of those early import days, the microcar, the candid slogan, the struggle, serves as a compelling origin story. For the gentleman racer who appreciates the shiny glory and the scrappy underdog chapters, this is worth turning the key on.

Photos courtesy of Subaru