Subaru’s unprecedented growth reportedly has the automaker planning to make its WRX line into a more dedicated performance family.
With the latest Impreza, which goes on sale this fall, expected to be a significantly higher volume model than any of its predecessors, Subaru thinks that the time is now to separate the WRX model for the first time in nearly 20 years.
“We will launch a new sporty car in 2014,” Subaru president Ikuo Mori told Motor Trend, which speculates that the new performance model will actually be the next-generation WRX. With more global volume now than Subaru has ever had, the automaker can dedicate more resources to designing a purpose-built performance car.
“Apart from a few nuts and bolts, every part on the WRX will be unique. Even the engine and body. Obviously the WRX’s platform will be inherited from the new Impreza, but it will be radically modified and significantly shortened,†an unnamed source told the magazine.
The magazine says that the new car might boast a 1.6-liter four-cylinder boxer engine that, with substantial turbo boost, might crank out as much as 270 horsepower, although a supercharger is also being considered. Sized more like a subcompact, the new car would nonetheless feature extra-wide tires. In many ways, it seems like a return to the homologated specials of the 1970s through 1990s, when deep-pocketed automakers fielded cars like the Ford RS200 and the Renault 5 Turbo.
Subaru is said to be seriously considering a return to competitive rallying, like the Word Rally Championship from which the Impreza WRX derives its name. Citing the economic downturn, Subaru pulled out of the series in 2008 and hasn’t made a serious move to return.
References
1.’ Subaru Impreza, WRX…’ view
