Subaru teases with slick wagons in Tokyo
Levorg probably won’t come here
While the highly anticipated Los Angeles reveal of the next-generation WRX pulls the sheets off a production-ready vehicle for the North American market, Subaru’s Tokyo auto show debut of its oddly named Levorg concept might be for Japan only. And that’s a real shame.
Subaru is calling the Levorg a prototype rather than a concept, and this mid-sized wagon certainly looks ready to go right into production. Styled like a stretched version of the five-door Impreza Sport, it’s a great-looking machine, and points the way forward for the next-generation Legacy.
At a reception for the Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), Subaru parked a humble early Legacy wagon next to exotic classics such as a Toyota 2000GT and rally legends such as a battered Safari Rally-winning Datsun 240Z. The l aunch of this sharp-looking wagon is why they did so.
Of course, there’s a hood scoop, and one of two powertrains huddle underneath it, either of which sound pretty interesting.
The first is a small-displacement 1.6L turbo-charged boxer four that makes just under 170 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque. Depending on the cost of manufacture and fuel requirements, we might be looking at a third option as an alternative to the 2.5L naturally-aspirated four in the Forester and Outback.
More exciting, especially if your family is rapidly out- growing your WRX and you can’t stand the thought of a humdrum crossover, is the 2.0L direct-injection turbo boxer option. With close to 300 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque, it’s a corker and makes for one hot wagon.
Whether or not Subaru actually brings back the wagon version of the Legacy — a gutsy turbocharged four might be just the power plant to propel a newer, sharper Legacy sedan into the view of mid-size sedan shoppers.
Far more practical, and pretty much guaranteed to show up in Subaru showrooms, is the Crossover 7 Concept, which is basically a seven-seater Outback. As Subaru has just announced plans to take the slow-selling Tribeca around back of the barn, expect to see some sort of seven-passenger crossover joining the lineup soon.
Also at the Subaru booth were two crossovers which are much less likely to make it to production.
The Viziv debuted at Frankfurt, and here gets a tweak or two, and an “Evolution” appellation. It’s a plugin diesel hybrid and while that sort of tech is probably a few years out for Subaru, it doesn’t mean it’s not going to show up in some production form by the latter part of the decade.
The Cross Sport Concept is essentially a BRZ Outback: a coupe lifted up for semi-offroad duty. Speaking of BRZs, Subaru has brought along the GT300-racing version of its lightweight 2+2 coupe. While the original is all about chuckable fun and slow carfast handling delight, this thing is a boxer-engined sledgehammer to the face.
Slammed to the ground and wildly flared with side-exhausts, it’s like they’ve been feeding a normal BRZ on STI growth hormone. Thoroughly excellent stuff.