SPY PICS: Subaru Impreza here before year's end

Subaru plans to introduce an all-new Impreza to the Australian market before the end of 2016, underpinned by the company's SGP (Subaru Global Platform) architecture.

This platform is expected to form the basis for WRX and STI models down the track, but now that the two sporty models are running along a separate line of development from the core Impreza, the pressure is off Subaru to deliver new WRX and STI models within a matter of months of the new Impreza. That's a good thing for a company that has traditionally been limited by resource – both production and R&D – to produce cars on time and in the numbers necessary to sate demand.

The timeframe for the Impreza was announced by Subaru Australia MD Nick Senior, during the launch of upgraded Forester, Liberty and Outback models earlier this week.

"Right towards the end of the year we'll launch the all-new Impreza – the first of our vehicles to be built on FHI's new Subaru Global Platform... which will eventually underpin the entire range," Senior said.

"New Impreza will be a very significant vehicle in the Subaru brand journey."

The Impreza is expected to embrace direct-injection fuel delivery and should be lighter as well as larger. Production of the small car is expected to remain in Japan, despite rumours it would be built in Subaru's Indiana plant, which is currently divesting itself of Toyota production to build more Subarus for North American consumption.

That may prove to be a problem for Subaru Australia, which sold just 5221 of the Impreza last year. To place that in perspective, the Toyota Corolla sold over 42,000 units last year, and Mazda3 sold 38,644. The Impreza was also outsold by Ford Focus, Holden Cruze, Hyundai i30, Kia Cerato and Mitsubishi Lancer.

Senior freely admits that some important models in Subaru's local range could have sold more last year if production capacity had been available. If it's a problem the current generation of Impreza faces, Subaru will undoubtedly seek to address that problem before the new model arrives.