Next Rex won't disappoint -- Subaru

Subaru has called into question the authenticity of a pair of ‘leaked’ WRX images that have elicited negative public sentiment this week, promising that its redesigned Rex will live up to the legend of previous models.

The Japanese brand released a single official teaser image of the all-new WRX’s front-end earlier this week, ahead of the car’s official world premiere at the Los Angeles motor show on November 20.

The official teaser was followed by the emergence of two allegedly leaked unofficial images -- believed to have originated from Japanese Subaru BRZ fan site CluBRZ – which also attracted widespread criticism of the conservative design they exposed.

The vehicle in the later images – revealed in full, both front and rear – appears to be identical to the car in Subaru’s official teaser pic, but Subaru Australia has now cast doubt over the legitimacy of those images, suggesting they could be Photoshopped renderings, and suggested that fans reserve judgement until the car’s official reveal.

“People have used them and they've appeared a lot overseas,” Subaru Australia's National Corporate Affairs Manager, David Rowley, told motoring.com.au. “They didn't come from Fuji [Heavy Industries, Subaru's parent company]. We don't know where they came from.”

Social media networks went into overdrive when the two images surfaced not long after the official teaser, largely because of their depiction of a conservative WRX design that had little in common with the WRX Concept, which was unanimously praised for its aggressive design after its global debut at the 2013 New York motor show in April.

It's not the first time Subaru has faced a backlash for the exterior design of its iconic performance car, the bug-eyed MY2000 WRX being a case in point. But Rowley says that has never hampered the car's popularity.

"Many cars have been and gone [since the first model], yet WRX sales continue year in, year out,” he said.

Although he suggested the production version of the WRX will be toned down from the smash-hit concept revealed in New York, Rowley is confident fans will not be disappointed with the real deal.

“I would say wait until you see the real car. Concepts are called concepts for a reason. They're often quite different to reality,” he stated.

Rowley said he was confident the new Rex, which for the first time will be a sedan-only model wearing a body distinct from the latest Impreza small car upon which it’s based, would satisfy its loyal customer base.

“Having seen the technical specifications of this new car, I think we've got every reason to be quietly confident,” he said.

First arriving in Australia in 1994, the WRX has found more than 42,000 buyers in that time.

Subaru has promised the new WRX, which will again be powered by a turbocharged four-cylinder boxer engine driving all four wheels, will be the fastest iteration yet when it arrives in Australia in March 2014 – its 20th anniversary year.

The giant-killing WRX STI model is tipped to arrive here a couple of months later in May.

Asked if he expected the public response to the new WRX at next week’s LA show to be more positive than the one the unofficial images attracted, he said: "I believe so, yes".

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