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Subaru might offer non-AWD and non-boxer powered models
By Yoann Besnard on 21 November 2007 | 
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We all know how the Subaru concept typically works: a car with four-wheel drive, a boxer engine and a dull design. Hopefully, it is a winsome combination, but remove the four-wheel drive and the boxer engine and you have a Toyota. It is a scary thought and it might become true.
In an interview given to the Australian website goauto, Subaru Australia managing director Nick Senior said that ever-tightening emission standards and a desire to cut fuel consumption could force Subaru to reconsider its position on AWD and boxer engines, but “Those core technologies are a key part of the brand” and “That is not likely to change in the foreseeable future.” The Subaru Australia chairman, Trevor Amery, also confirmed this statement.
Subaru would likely offer both layouts, two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive. It is not said whether Subaru would offer non-boxer petrol engines or not. Mr Senior explained that the bigger model would keep their current architecture while smaller models than the Impreza might abandon four-wheel drive layout and adopt an electric engine. At the last Tokyo Motor Show, the Japanese carmaker unveiled the G4e concept car an company sources said that Subaru aimed to build an all-electric vehicle by 2012. Already in Japan, Subaru sells Kei cars without boxer engines, but with an inline 0.6 litre four-cylinder engine.
In Europe, Subaru will make its own revolution by selling a diesel engine. Due to be on sale next year, it will be the world's first diesel flat four engine. A 2.0 litre unit with common rail injection, it produces 160 bhp and 250 lb-ft. With this new offer, Subaru wants to propel sales to 100,000 vehicles per year by 2009, an increase of 40 per cent.
