The Subaru Legacy will officially be axed by 2025. With declining midsize sedan sales, Subaru has decided to axe that model which, to be honest, makes good business sense.
Still, it’s a sad announcement, and we’re sad to see yet another pillar of that segment fade away. That said, the Japan Automotive Hall of Fame has recognized this model for being significant.
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More specifically, it’s the first-generation Subaru Legacy that has been declared a ‘historical heritage car.’ Launched in 1989, it was the car that brought Subaru to the mainstream and boosted its image prior to the WRX.
The original Legacy came about after Subaru’s need to sell more cars in North America. As the midsize sedan class was the top-selling segment at the time, it’s the one the folks from Gunma went for. It was a clean-sheet design and developed from scratch, making it one of the biggest engineering endeavors of Subaru.
From the start, it was available in two body styles, namely as a sedan and wagon. Subaru then injected some sportiness in the otherwise serious-looking executive car by adding hotter turbo models, effectively creating a new sub-genre of performance sedans in Japan (alongside the Mitsubishi Galant VR-4).
Its exploits in rallying are also well documented, serving as a springboard for Subaru in the World Rally Championship and put a certain Colin McRae on the map. And here’s a fun fact for you, Subaru even got Bruce Willis for its ads. There was even a special variant of it called the Touring Bruce to honor the actor.
Successive generations were moneymakers until the 2010s. During that period, more sporting versions appeared, spawned a crossover version in the form of the Outback, and even won Japan Car of the Year in 2023. Locally, we got the second, fourth, and fifth generation models under two distributors.
The market the Legacy sits in might be declining now, but it’s great to see it being honored nonetheless. After all, without it, Subaru might not be where it is today.
