This is the car Subaru been teasing us with the past couple of weeks. Unveiled at the LA Show, this is the Subaru Impreza Design Concept, and make no mistake, this is more or less how the next Impreza will look like. And I can already feel the tension at Mitsubishi design center as they are thinking of a new Lancer!
This car is designed based on Subaru’s new “Confidence in Motion” design and brand strategy. It follows the trendy “four-door coupe” style, but at the same time it tires to maintain its Japanese roots with unique lines at front and rear.
As Subaru says: The designers blended two ideas – “dynamic flow and confident stance” – to showcase Subaru’s engineering core values of dynamic performance, safety, driving enjoyment and quality.
The unique features of this concept include a hexagonal grille with spread wings in the center and hawk eye-style headlights, and the hood, grille and headlights designed to project three-dimensional character. And those flared wheel arches, they are not just there to impress school boys, they are also emphasizing the vehicle’s All-Wheel Drive technology.
If you want to nitpick, then you can criticism the design of the rear-end, as it looks a bit weird and not so pretty. Here the hexagonal theme repeats with a garnish that radiates outward from the center. The rear lights also follow a sharp-edged theme, and are stretched into the body sides to join the character line along the car’s flanks.
The Sky Silver exterior color underscores the Impreza Design Concept’s stylish and dynamic silhouette, and suggests a silver tone to be used on the next generation of Subaru vehicles. The high-luster silver aluminum wheels, with their five-twin-spoke design, convey vehicle lightness and agility. Carbon fins garnish the spokes, aiding brake cooling.
For the interior, the designers followed a theme of “Dynamic, Enticing, Secure.” It’s got some very cool conceptual features, but they are generally pointless because non of these toys will make it into the produciton model.
One feature that might have a future is the large display in the center dash which combines functions for navigation, vehicle information and audio. The touch panel technology provides ease of use, seamlessly melding information and entertainment features.
Also for the first time in this car Subaru has mated a 2.0-liter naturally aspirated Boxer engine with a Lineartronic Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT). This new setup will help with the performance and also improves the efficiency. A 2.5-liter version of this engine powers the 2011 Forester.
This concept also features an innovative technology, which is Subaru’s own advanced driving-assist EyeSight system installed along the front edge of the roof. The images the camera takes can be viewed on a monitor in the center of the gauge cluster, positioned for easy visibility. EyeSight is also networked with the latest in collision-prevention technology.
