Subaru will be changing the all too familiar sedan shape of it’s rally-inspired Subaru Impreza car to a hatchback form when it’s next incarnation is introduced in 2008. We’ve kind of known this was going to happen when Subaru showed us the Subaru B5-TPH Concept at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show.
Shown above is an artist’s impression from Road & Track on how the Impreza hatch could possibly look like. This move is in line with Subaru’s plan to position the new Impreza hatch against hot hatches like the Golf GTI, Golf R32/R36 and the Ford Focus. A preview of the final production vehicle will be shown next year at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show. The car will come in both 3-door and 5-door models.
Engine options are expected to be a naturally aspirated 2.0 litre four-pot boxer producing 170 horsepower for the baseline model, and the WRX versions will have a turbocharged version under the hood. STi versions will have a higher performance turbocharged four-pot boxer producing over 300 horsepower.
There will also be four-pot boxer turbodiesel options, developed together with Toyota. Of course, the car will retain it’s trademark AWD drivetrain.
After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history. An avid electronic gadget aficionado as well as big-time coffee lover, he's also the executive producer of the Driven motoring TV programme.
that will b nice thing.
the rear looks like a half cut stolen from another car! doesnt match at all…
Please Proton, have the next Neo GTi as an impreza fighter with 4wd and turbo…
ugly
old school design, pathetic…..
the spoiler is really outdated, and why the tail light looks a bit like those from Alfa's? The rims is also another problem, but still the new Impreza looks quite impressive though.
will this new beast beat the upcoming Evo X?
waa… depanding on proton to produce a road eating machine?? in ur dreams mat!
well ugly pic.. ia sure they will do something about it.. not like proton… suka tembak aje!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
prefer the sedan.
the evoX looks way better and still got four doors?
where you think proton gonna get the awd system? buy up porsche this time?
Not a pretty sight! The 2-Door Coupe version is much much better!
Yes the coupe version looks much better. I like coupes.. Now driving poor man's coupe, as featured in my website.
Well, the design is certainly far better than the current Version 9 Impreza.
For those of you who think the design looks like an Alfa Romeo's rear, yep, you've got it right, it's designed by an Ex-Alfa Romeo Designer. Subaru hired him for the Version 9 design project.
However, Subaru has always been trying to be better than Mitsubishi in terms of their AWD technology, Subaru has the Symmetrical All Wheel Drive (SAWD) system, as for Mitsubishi, they have the Super All Wheel Drive (SAWD) system.
[Same acronym??? Haha...]
Notice that the Version 4,5, and 6 Impreza looks the same? The are, just because of Evos having new versions of Evo 4,5, and 6 during the 90s.
Now, the concept design of the Evo X has an Alfa's rear, Impreza surely has to have more-or-less the same design, retaining their trade-mark front nose.
I hope that Subaru would have both the sedan and hatchback variants of the Impreza, just like their sportswagon variant they had in the 90s, to try and beat other manufacturers products. So, watch out, MITSUBISHI EVO X, VOLKSWAGEN GOLF R32/36, VOLVO V70 T5!!!
this subaru coupe actually has the alfa romeo traits… the designer andreas zapatinas was previously the design director of alfa romeo centro stile now as subaru's head of advanced design..
the curves and the lines and the lights looks exacly like the alfa gt coupe..
wouldn't they be disadvantaged aerodynamically in WRC if they went with a hatchback? like Peugeot used the 206 hatch then the 307 was a hatch too but they used the CC version so that it would have a flat back?
yup…ure rite cosmo..
can c d influence of alfa in term of rear lamp and rear dsg…d rear top is not matchla…really ugly…
It's ugly…. prefered the Mitsubishi Evo 10 as seen from the spy pictures posted all over the net. The Evo looks more fierce tho.
Am I the only one or does this rendition of the Subaru Impreza look eeriely similar to the Evo X from the rear??
If so, most people would have problems telling them apart. Similarities already start at the 4wd and turbocharger systems, don't let these two become Siamese twins!
huyoo.. dahsyatlah..
I sure like to try out the new four-pot boxer turbodiesel options.
the artist who did the impression sure loves the alfa 156 rear
Good try for Subaru for changing the looks of Impreza…
i cant wait to see how the car looks like when being changed into the version of WRC… nice nice!
Alfa 156 lookalike man…
Abit hard lah to fall in love with that kinda spoiler-hatchback combination.
The first time I saw something similar was Impul-modified Nissan March – But that one still ok.
These new Impreza drawing features some very confusing coupe-hatchback combination.
Remove the spoiler, add in a C-pillar, shrink the rear side windows size.
Other than that, I kinda like the taillight-bumper-exhaust combination, although abit ciplak Alfa, what the heck – the chief designer is the same guy anyway.
da back reminds me of alfa romeo 147 lar .
summore da apoiler makes it look like da old chevy .
but da twin exhaust is nice .
aiya….is it just me or has the imprezas been looking ugly as the progress??
looks like a station wagon back end with a wing stuck onto the front end of an impreza. add in the alfa backlights.
Who is this "artist"? He certainly made an impression. A bad impression.
Errr…
Lookin forward to the all-new EVO X (or XI) now.
yup..damn ugly..evo x please..
proton sucks! and its always being the suckest of all!
SUBARU ROCK 4EVER! its da best of all!
subaru is the best car.but this version is very nise .beutiful.powerfull this car is a new way for impreza