The Subaru 1500 is the first car built by Fuji Heavy Industries, with the development code-name of P1.

The prototype used a monocoque body structure and adopting the "ponton" style appearance, with an independent front wishbone suspension and a rear leaf spring suspension with three plates and a live rear axle.

The original version, code named "FG4A", was sourced from Peugeot's 202 and built by Fuji Precision Technology (this later became the Prince Motor Company).

Prince had not agreed to Fuji Precision Technology providing this engine to a competing car and Fuji Heavy Industries found themselves obliged to develop a different engine in-house.

Subaru had been very confident in the car's abilities, but with both Toyota (Corona) and Prince (Skyline) about to release new cars in the 1500 cc class they considered the market situation impossible without a very large investment in mass manufacturing capabilities.