In the middle of the 20th century, Soviet engineers were faced with the task of creating a car that could overcome difficult terrain and carry heavy loads. Thus began the history of the creation of the legendary Ural-375 car.
At the time it didn't really made a difference, fuel was plenty and it was cheap, just like in USA, so every car in 50-60s was 4-8L even if it was family van, than fuel price jump came and now we have 0.9 liter engines in SUVs.