Words: Jason Round

Well, it appears Subaru is taking another trip back to fugly town with these leaked pictures of the new Impreza WRX. Looking something like a cross between a BMW hatch and a Lexus gone AWOL, the new styling is bound to cause a massive stir among those who’ve come to love the muscular sedan approach of the WRX as we know it.

Sure, Subaru went a little off the map with the bug-eye design and then was seemingly pulling everything back into line in recent years, but this is a massive departure.

The new WRX will debut at April’s New York Motor Show, and as of yet Subaru’s spokesman, David Rowley, has failed to comment on the validity of these photos themselves, but given recent literature, it’s almost a given that this is a reasonably accurate representation.

Allegedly, the move is set to take on the hot-hatch love affair the world seems to be having, especially with Euro hatches like the Audi S3 and super-popular Golf Gti. It is most likely, though, that Impreza will run up directly against the Toyota Corolla, Ford Focus and Mazda 3, with the WRX tackling the performance sector of the market, which includes the forthcoming Civic Type R and Mazda3 MPS.
Price is expected to remain around $40K.