The first Subaru Legacy Outback was introduced in the United States in 1996. It was a Legacy wagon with all wheel drive (AWD), body-cladding, off-road tires and slightly higher ground clearance. It was marketed using Subaru's trademarked phrase: "The World's First Sport Utility Wagon."

The phrase may be trademarked, but it is not entirely accurate. In 1979, American Motors Corp. (AMC) launched the AMC Concord-based AMC Eagle range, which had a similar specification, but had suffered poor sales and was discontinued in 1988.

Subaru of America executives created the Outback because the SUV craze had at that point reached a fevered pitch with customers demanding SUVs and shunning Subaru's station wagons (even when equipped with all wheel drive ) based on image concerns, leaving dealers clamoring for a SUV-like product to sell.

The Outback turned out to be a success, handily outselling its Legacy progenitor. Clever ads featured the Australian "Crocodile Dundee" star Paul Hogan using the Outback in adventurous situations where it was portrayed besting its competitors, notably America's top-selling SUV, the Ford Explorer.

An Outback Sport, based on the Subaru Impreza five-door hatchback was introduced in 1998.

The Subaru Outback SUS (for Sport Utility Sedan) was launched with a limited production test run sold in New England in 1999 and based on its success, was rolled out nationwide the following year.

Other companies followed suit with similar raised, four-wheel-drive station wagons as stop-gaps before their own SUVs were launched, or if they did not envisage introducing one. These included the Audi A6 Allroad, Volvo XC70, Alfa Romeo 156 CrossWagon and Holden Adventra.

The Outback was introduced to Japan in 1999 as the Subaru Legacy Lancaster. In 2000, Outback became its own model and added a sedan, as well as an available horizontal six-cylinder engine.

In 2003, with the début of the fourth-generation Legacy at the 60th Frankfurt Auto Show, the Outback name is now being used worldwide with the launch of the second-generation Outback wagon. H6-3.0 models were introduced at the 2004 Chicago Auto Show.

External links

• Subaru Outback Owner Community
• Paradigm Shift: First Drive: 2005 Legacy & Outback, an article that describes changes to the Outback for the 2005 model year
• OutbackXT.com A discussion website for the Subaru Outback.