Subaru Wants To Impreza You
January 19th, 2011 11:15 AM
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Fuji Heavy will delight its Subaru clientele with a full redesign of its Subaru Impreza. After four years, the car got a bit long in the sprockets. Launch is scheduled for this year, says The Nikkei [sub].
The Impreza Mk4 will have a new transverse mounted engine. Simultaneously with its Japanese launch, the new Impreza will be exported to the U.S., Europe and China. A crossover version, is slated for the near future.
Subaru also has plans for a rear-wheel-drive sports car developed with Toyota. This is expected in 2012. According to The Nikkei, Subaru attempts to “cultivate a sporty brand image in China and other developing countries.”
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The current Impreza looked outdated when it came out; in fact, previous-gen Imprezas look fresher. It was a horrible design. The more they deviate from it in the next gen, the better, IMO.
While it's commendable that the Impreza isn't bloating like every other vehicle on the market, Subaru seem to have an endless supply of ugly sticks to beat their designs with.
Bugeyes forever! Now that's out of my system... when time comes in a few years to replace my trusty mine-since-new '02 WRX, I wonder if there will still be one. The present model was attractive up until this year when they pasted all the STI styling gubbins on it and it became gauche. But in the same time scale we will see the release of the Toyobaru, and the current WRX is only good because they screwed it up the first year and people cared enough to want them to fix it. I'm not too worried that "horizontally mounted" means "transverse." That would make it not a Subaru. The H4/H6 and VW-layout transmission is a far more distinctive part of the brand than their forgettable or willfully ugly styling. What I really want to see whe I go shopping is DI and/or better VVT than what they presently run. Their engine tech is a good ways behind, and other companies are getting better mileage and more power out of the same amount of engine.
The loss of 30% cargo capacity for the post 2005 wagons have really un-impressed me. Oh, they call it 5-door hatchbacks, now.