WRX STI S207
is very much traditional Subaru and playing to the enthusiast heartland, the bigger debut at the Tokyo show for the home market is a concept for the new Impreza. We say concept but there's a distinct lack of the usual gullwing doors, holographic instrument cluster and micro fusion reactor stuff you might expect of an 'out there' show car.
Can't be a real concept, it has proper mirrors!
Nope, instead we've got a fairly generic but smart looking five-door hatch Subaru doesn't mind saying is about "previewing the design not only of the next-generation Impreza but Subaru's future models as a whole."
Proportionally and in the detailing it's not a million miles away from the fruitier examples of the previous Impreza WRX STI hatch, when it was still called an Impreza of course. With a little light Lexus-ing of the lights and details. One wonders if the Crazy 88 from Kill Bill moonlight as car designers when not involved in epic bar fights, setting about the clays with their swords to create the kind of dramatic surface detailing Japanese car companies seem to love at the moment.
Clearly early days yet though, the release full of stuff like "the design study exhibits a wide and low stance, suggestive of the innate stability that Subaru is famed for" without actually offering any insight on whether key technical features like boxer engines and four-wheel drive will survive. We'll keep them if possible. But we'll do without the CVT-only gearbox option that relegates the new Levorg from 'possibly quirky' to 'no thanks' at a stroke. Call us when you've added a turbo and bonnet scoop please!
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