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You can buy the last Subaru rally car driven by Colin McRae

Colin McRae continued entertaining the fans for years after retiring from competing full-time in the World Rally Championship – though sadly not for enough of them. His last public appearance was at the 2007 Goodwood Festival of Speed, driving the car you see here to the crowd's delight. And now it could be yours. Though it may look mostly like any ordinary Subaru Impreza WRX STI, this is a full-on S12B rally machine. Petter Solberg drove it for the factory Subaru World Rally Team throughout most of the 2007 World Rally Championship, scoring two podium finishes. That would make it desirable enough as it is, but then McRae drove it up Lord March's front lawn (see the video below) to cement its place in history. It was the last time McRae drove in public before he died in a helicopter crash near his home in Scotland just months later. The vehicle has since been stripped down to its shell and completely rebuilt to showroom condition. It has only put on a little over 200 miles since the engine was rebuilt, and the clutch was replaced just 50 miles ago. It has new seats and harnesses, fire extinguishers, brake discs and pads, the suspension has been fully rebuilt, the wheels powder-coated afresh.... top-notch, in other words. C&M Motors out of Omagh, Northern Ireland, has it listed on RallySales.com with an asking price of GBP159,500 – equivalent to just over $230k at current exchange rates. That would put it in contention as one of the most expensive Subarus we've ever seen, rivaling the $238k which Sports Car Market records as having been paid for another ex-McRae Impreza just this past October. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Subaru might build WRX hatchback after all

The 2015 Subaru WRX is awesome. Really awesome. We told you as much in our first drive of the new sedan back in December. Honestly, our only complaint about Fuji Heavy's new performance machine is that it's no longer offered as a hatchback - the new WRX is a sedan-only affair, despite the more functional five-door variant accounting for some 50 percent of sales in the car's last generation.
But there's hope on the horizon, if a report from Australia's Motoring.com is to be believed. Speaking with Masuo Takatsu, Subaru's general manager for the WRX, the company is now re-considering putting the "hatch" back in its hot hatch.
"We have received strong interest from the US, where the hatchback was 50 percent (of previous-generation WRX sales), so we're now considering," Takatsu told Motoring, noting that the United States is Subaru's main target for this car. Additionally, Takatsu said the company's decision to only offer the sedan was the result of limited engineering resources, echoing statements we've previously heard from Subaru's US arm.

NHTSA, IIHS, and 20 automakers to make auto braking standard by 2022

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and virtually every automaker in the US domestic market have announced a pact to make automatic emergency braking standard by 2022. Here's the full rundown of companies involved: BMW, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo (not to mention the brands that fall under each automaker's respective umbrella). Like we reported yesterday, AEB will be as ubiquitous in the future as traction and stability control are today. But the thing to note here is that this is not a governmental mandate. It's truly an agreement between automakers and the government, a fact that NHTSA claims will lead to widespread adoption three years sooner than a formal rule. That fact in itself should prevent up to 28,000 crashes and 12,000 injuries. The agreement will come into effect in two waves. For the majority of vehicles on the road – those with gross vehicle weights below 8,500 pounds – AEB will need to be standard equipment by September 1, 2022. Vehicles between 8,501 and 10,000 pounds will have an extra three years to offer AEB. "It's an exciting time for vehicle safety. By proactively making emergency braking systems standard equipment on their vehicles, these 20 automakers will help prevent thousands of crashes and save lives," said Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx said in an official statement. "It's a win for safety and a win for consumers." Read on for the official press release from NHTSA. Related Video: U.S. DOT and IIHS announce historic commitment of 20 automakers to make automatic emergency braking standard on new vehicles McLEAN, Va. – The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced today a historic commitment by 20 automakers representing more than 99 percent of the U.S. auto market to make automatic emergency braking a standard feature on virtually all new cars no later than NHTSA's 2022 reporting year, which begins Sept 1, 2022. Automakers making the commitment are Audi, BMW, FCA US LLC, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Maserati, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan, Porsche, Subaru, Tesla Motors Inc., Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo Car USA.