Design
US versions also had carpeting and welded-in rear-facing jumpseats in the cargo area—serving actually to circumvent a tariff known as the Chicken tax. Although the BRAT could fairly be called a truck, the plastic seats in the cargo bed allowed Subaru to classify the BRAT as a passenger car. This both left little cargo space, and it also caused a few fatalities in accidents. Now you can buy seats to go in the cargo area, but these are much safer as they have five-point seat belts. Passenger cars imported into the US were charged only a 2.5% tariff, compared to 25% on light trucks.
When the Leone was redesigned in 1979 (for the 1980 model year), the BRAT continued to use the old bodywork for another couple of years.
The BRAT was restyled in 1982 and the jumpseats were discontinued after the 1985 model year. The BRAT was introduced with a rise in popularity of small trucks being sold in the USA, primarily from Toyota, Nissan, and Mazda. Production continued into 1993 but ceased to be imported to North America in 1987. It was also known as the Brumby in Australia and the Subaru 284 in the UK. Imports to Europe, Australia, and New Zealand continued until February 1994. The BRAT was not sold in Japan and was manufactured for export markets.
Read more about this topic: Subaru BRAT
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