This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Subaru boxer. The venerable horizontally opposed engine has powered nearly every star-badged car since the 1966 Subaru 1000. The company has just published a retrospective video of its signature powerplant, revving each evolution of the iconic motor.
The video starts with the 1000’s EA52, the one that started it all and Japan’s first mass-produced aluminum boxer. Next up is the prolific EJ20, which propelled everything from Legacy Wagons to the WRC championship rally cars.
That’s followed by the several singular examples, including the EJ22, a limited-production, hand-built example that powered the legendary 22B. The EZ30 motivated some versions of the Legacy Outback and the futuristic XT and later evolved into the engine for the SVX and Tribeca, but stands as the only 6-cylinder Subaru boxer series. The EE30 was another evolutionary dead end, the only diesel boxer that Subaru ever built and never sold in the US.
Then we enter the modern age, with the FB20 that has powered most Subaru models of since 2010, and the FA20 developed for the BRZ. The last engine featured is the EJ20 Final Edition, a hand-built swan song balanced to perfection in order to honor 30 years of service.
The video concludes with a showcase of Subaru’s modern lineup — including the current Forester, Levorg, and SuperGT BRZ — reaffirming that the engineering philosophy started back in 1966 continues to be the core driving force of the brand today.
