"Affordable" sporty no Supra successor

A sports car currently being developed by Subaru and Toyota will share more in concept with the original Toyota Celica than with the Subaru SVX.

Visiting here for the launch of the latest Liberty and Outback, the head of Subaru's Product and Portfolio Planning Division, Takeshi Tachimori, told the Carsales Network that the new car would be significantly smaller than the company's defiantly unorthodox sports coupe from the 1990s, the SVX.

But it won't be as small as a Mazda MX-5. "Somewhere between," said Tachimori.

While the Subaru executive was careful of what he divulged concerning the project, he did reveal that the new model is scheduled for a global release around the end of 2011.

"It's a rear-wheel drive sports car," he also advised.  "It's going to use a horizontally-opposed engine, so the engine area is to be done by Subaru engineering."

Asked whether the car could be powered by different engines -- the flat six from the Tribeca/Outback/Liberty being one mentioned -- he responded with "no comment", but also said that "It [presents] an opportunity for future enhancements..."

Tachimori also said that the final look for the car is not quite set in concrete yet. Nor has it been determined whether the Subaru version will look markedly different from the Toyota version.

"It's still under discussion," he explained.

"The basic structure and proportion should be the same, but it's not decided how much difference we're going to make between the Toyota model and the Subaru model, because we are still doing base engineering. We've not finished the final styling."

One point that Tachimori could confirm with certainty, the new car will be "affordable".

"We want to make an affordable sports car, because the sports car business is quite difficult in this age. Our idea is we want to make a sports car that is affordable for everyone."

Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at www.carsales.mobi