Subaru's design study stunner
New concept scheduled for unveiling at LA motor show later this monthThe picture here does not show Subaru's new sports car -- the car to be built on the platform shared with Toyota's FT-86. It's clear from the teaser pic that Subaru has supplied that this vehicle is much more cab-forward and its wheel arches give the game away also.
Subaru will unveil the new design concept featured in this pic at the LA motor show from November 18 (our time), but while the teaser pic is enticing enough, could it be the drivetrain technology that will provide the real news?
Subaru's press release mentions the company's last concept car, the gull-wing hybrid tourer that made its debut at the Tokyo motor show last year. Is that a hint that the LA concept will also feature a hybrid-drive system -- or some other alternative energy powertrain? Car companies can hardly introduce a new concept and ignore the public's current fascination with the environment. Subaru's reliance on CVT (continuously variable transmission) technology and its strategic alliance with Toyota leaves room for a uniquely all-wheel drive hybrid production vehicle down the track. It's hard to conceive that the LA concept won't be a technical exercise as well as a design exercise.
The design study looks low slung and seems to bear some Mazda styling traits. Around the roofline and hind quarters it resembles -- to our eyes -- the profile of the first-generation Mazda6.
Presuming the size of wheels will be 20 or 22-inch for the motor show, the wheel arches provide limited sense of scale. Based on the clues dropped by the pic, we're betting it will be a hardtop-style sedan in the mode of the Mercedes-Benz CLS or Volkswagen Passat CC, but smaller again. The roofline doesn't look flat enough to lend itself to gullwing doors like the Tokyo concept's. We would speculate that it will be proportioned similarly to a Mazda RX-8, but on a slightly larger scale.
If we're right about the size of the car, it will probably be larger than Impreza, but smaller than Liberty, in which case the concept is unlikely to be a production reality in the short term -- or ever. That then hints that the concept is a pointer to future styling directions for Subaru.
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