Scoop: Perodua Ativa to have a Subaru rebadge in Japan - To be called Subaru Rex

Subaru has been rebadging Daihatsu and Toyota models for years so this latest scoop coming from Japan shouldn’t be so surprising. The donor model to the , the Toyota Raize/Daihatsu Rocky might be receiving a Subaru rebadge in Japan with a name not seen for 30 years.

Subaru’s Japanese kei car line-up consists of Daihatsu rebadges

According to BestCarWeb, the Rocky/Raize would also be sold as the Subaru Rex in Japan which makes this the Star of Pleiades’ sixth OEM (original equipment manufacturer) currently offered that is based on a Daihatsu/Toyota model.

Final-generation Subaru Rex shown

The Subaru Rex was a kei car that was sold between 1972 and 1992. Over 1.9 million units were sold across 3 generations and the Rex was also one of a few Japanese kei cars to be offered with a supercharger.

The reason for the inclusion of the Raize/Rocky/Ativa rebadge is to fill in Subaru’s entry-level SUV line-up. According to the Japanese media’s sources, the small SUV essentially replaces the 1.6-litre variants as the all-new Crosstrek only offers a 2.0-litre mild-hybrid e-Boxer unit.

Daihatsu Rocky Hybrid shown

Granted, the Raize/Rocky-derived Subaru Rex is said to be only available with a naturally-aspirated 1.2-litre WA-VE (88 PS/113 Nm) petrol unit with front-wheel-drive. The 4WD as well as the turbocharged 1.0-litre (98 PS/140 Nm) and 1.2-litre e-Smart hybrid (106 PS/170 Nm) variants won’t be given the blue oval badge treatment.

BestCarWeb’s sources also revealed that the Rex could be offered with 3 variants and priced similar to the Raize/Rocky’s 1.2-litre counterparts which range between JPY 1,707,000 to JPY 2,039,000 (~RM 55k-65k).

The Ativa won’t be the first Perodua model to have an official Subaru “rebadge” though. There was also the Subaru Justy which was essentially a rebadged first-gen Daihatsu Sirion/Boon/Toyota Passo, the donor model to Malaysia’s that needs no introduction.