Spotted: an original Dutch Subaru SVX
The spotted specimen
On the A20 near Rotterdam we saw this beautiful 1994 Subaru SVX. An original Dutch example. The RDW has nothing special to report, but of course the car itself is special. Time to dive into the archives again: what kind of car was the Subaru SVX again?
The Subaru SVX
Back in the 1980s, Subaru caused a stir with the introduction of the XT, a very square sports coupe with a very futuristic design for the time. The model did not sell very well, but Subaru thought it was good enough to develop a successor. That became the SVX, which entered the market in 1991.
Futuristic star car with Italian design
The approach to the Subaru SVX was similar to that of the XT, but translated to the 1990s. The design this time came from the famous Giorgetto Giugiraro, on behalf of ItalDesign. The front end was still fairly conventional, but the rest of the car was again futuristic. Particularly striking was the large, aviation-inspired window section. Another detail was that the windshield and front side windows were directly adjacent, uninterrupted by the A-pillar. To ensure that the windows could open despite the curvature, the SVX had a distinctive construction with “side windows within side windows.
Incidentally, in Japan the car was called Subaru Alcyone SVX. ‘Alcyone’ is the brightest star of the Pleiades, the star cluster on which the Subaru logo is inspired. While we’re at it, the letters SVX stand for ‘Subaru Vehicle X.’
Subaru SVX under the hood: six-cylinder boxer
The SVX was available with one powertrain: a 3.3-liter six-cylinder boxer engine combined with a four-speed automatic transmission. However, there was a choice of front- or all-wheel drive. The engine produced (in European specification) 169 kW (230 hp) of power and 309 Nm of torque. With that, the car sprinted to 100 km/h in 8.6 seconds and went on to 235 km/h. For the time, those were truly sporting performances.
The Subaru SVX in the Netherlands
The SVX was also officially delivered in the Netherlands, but only as a “top model” with all-wheel drive. We have not been able to find out the original sales numbers, but they must not have been many. With just under 25,000 units worldwide, the SVX, like its predecessor, was not a sales hit. America was the most important market with around 14,000 units. At this moment there are still 49 Subaru SVX’ on Dutch license plates, of which about half are original Dutch models.