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Subaru's SVX, manufactured from 1991-1996, stands out among the Japanese automaker's cars for a few reasons. First of all, the car is as heavy as a third generation Outback -- about 3,600 pounds. Also, at the time of production, it was the first and only Subaru to ever use a boxer style engine, or a flat 6 as some call it. This oddity among the Subaru cars was meant to be the company's first attempt at the luxury/performance car and had the specs to prove it. The SVX had only one engine: the EG33. The EG33 was a 3.3 liter engine, and as mentioned was a boxer, or horizontally opposed engine. It had 6 cylinders with four valves per cylinder. The powerful engine produced 230 bhp at 5,400 rpm. This engine was the largest that Subaru had ever built and maintained that status until the introduction of the 2008 Subaru Tribeca, which boasts a 3.6L engine. Like the uniquely large engine, the SVX also boasted a unique design. The SVX's predecessor, the XT, was a boxy affair. The SVX was designed by Italian Giorgetto Giugiaro of ItalDesign. As a result the SVX featured curvy lines similar to those that Giugiaro has created for the design concepts of the Ford Maya and Oldsmobile Inca. Another distinct feature was the windows within a window. Subaru said that the windows were "an aircraft-inspired glass-to-glass" canopy. In this sense the car looks a bit more like it ought to be flying than driving on the ground. However, as a result of this design, the windows only go up and down about 2/3 of the height of the canopy. Subaru also wanted to use the same design as the SVX debut in the 1989 Tokyo Auto Show to give consumers the opportunity to actually drive a concept car. Initially the strategy seemed to be working. In its first year of production SVX sales totaled 5,280 in the United States. This was especially impressive since the car debuted during an economic recession. Also, the car was unusually high priced for a Subaru, costing anywhere between $24,445 for the low end model and $28,000 for the high end model. Before Subaru cut off production of the SVX in 1996, the SVX topped out at a cost of $36,740 for the premium LSi. Subaru estimates that they lost a total of $75,000,000 total in the SVX project (they actually lost $3,000 with the sale of every SVX) but felt that money worth the cost of projecting the image of a forward thinking company.
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