After showing us the amazing-looking Impreza 5-Door Concept at the Tokyo auto show, Subaru has prepared this equally sexy sedan variant for an L.A. debut as a preview for the version that likely will prove more popular here in the United States.
While the imaginatively named Impreza Sedan Concept is little more than the hatchback redrawn with a trunk, there are some design details unique to this version that deserve shout-outs. The roofline peaks above the front seats before arcing in a clean sweep into the tall trunk, which is made to look even taller by a ducktail rear spoiler that appears to extend into the quarter-panels. That won’t be easy to stamp into sheetmetal, so it’ll be quite a feat if Subaru can carry it over to the production model. The sedan also gets a distinctive character line in the upper door that recalls the BRZ. As on the hatchback, the squinty, C-shaped front and rear lamps are quite attractive, and we’d love to see them make it to the production model, too. Something that is sure to change, however, is the rear door glass, which will need to be segmented so that the rear windows can actually open. Expect Subaru to tone down the front and rear graphics, too, only to tone them back up for the inevitable WRX and WRX STI models likely to once again share their basic underpinnings with the Impreza.
Subaru hasn’t said much about what will power the Impreza line moving forward, but it seems safe to say that a boxer four-cylinder displacing roughly 2.0 liters will return for duty, along with all-wheel drive and a choice of manual or continuously variable automatic transmissions. We expect the former to get an extra forward ratio compared to today’s five-speed and for Subaru to adopt direct injection and cylinder deactivation for the engine lineup. The upcoming new Impreza will ride on the company’s next-generation global platform, which presents opportunity for improvement all around.
As for the production car’s design, it’s hard not to be skeptical, as Subaru’s history has included lip-smacking concept cars that ended up stripped of any and all sex appeal when the time came to produce them. Case in point: the last Impreza concept, which turned into the current Impreza. Yeah. So forgive us if we don’t put too much stock in the promises being made by this Impreza sedan concept, at least not until we see the production version roll out sometime next spring.
