It’s safe to say that 2015 Subaru WRX has gone over quite well. Between its all-wheel-drive handling, streamlined look, and all-new, 265-horsepower Boxer four-cylinder, there isn’t a lot to dislike about Suby’s latest rally car.
Despite its reception, some were disappointed that the new car didn’t have the aggressive, sleek look of the positively gorgeous WRX concept that was unveiled at the 2013 New York Auto Show. The current car is without a doubt pretty, but it was disappointing to see that the concept’s low, sleek roofline and bulky rear fenders were left on the cutting room floor.
Luckily for us, the new Impreza and WRX could inherit to concepts sultry looks when it’s released in 2016.
As detailed in a Motoring report, Subaru’s chief designer, Mamoru Ishii, promises “the lauded concept’s sporty, aggressive stance will indeed reach production and is due to appear on the all-new Impreza due in 2016, and the WRX that will follow.”
“We are planning to give the lower section below the hip line a wider, more substantial stance and narrow up the roof section,” he continued.
WRX Project General Manager, Masuo Takatsu, blamed the 2015 car’s comparatively conservative look on the scarcity of engineering resources during the vehicle’s design, as well safety requirements and “other outside forces.”
“We had to comply with regulations, livability, and practicality, and that’s the reason it deviated so much from the concept car,” he said.
But, like Ishii, Takatsu expects the next WRX to look closer to the 2013 concept that caused heavy breathing among auto enthusiasts everywhere.
If we’re to hold Ishii and Takatsu to their word, the 2016 Impreza and WRX could be the prettiest variants since the bug-eyed and blob-eyed models of the early 2000’s, if not the prettiest ever.
With the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO going by the wayside soon, the scintillatingly styled WRX and STI may finally be the undisputed kings of the rallysport four-banger squad. At least until the new Mazdaspeed 3 comes out.
