2011 Subaru Impreza Wrx Premium Sedan 4-door 2.5l on 2040-cars

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Subaru sells its 10 millionth car in the United States

No longer a niche automaker known for quirkiness, Subaru has sold its 10 millionth car in the United States a little over a year after its American division celebrated its 50th birthday. The milestone illustrates how quickly (and how much) the Japanese firm has grown in the United States. It took Subaru 41 years to sell the first five million cars on our shores. Its line-up evolved considerably during that time period; it went from peddling the 360, a tiny kei car damned by Consumer Reports as America's most unsafe car, to spear-heading the rugged wagon segment with the original Outback. It entered the 2010s with a clear idea of how to achieve maximum growth and sold an additional five million cars in a little more than a decade. Its formula is simple: expand while staying true to its roots. The milestone car, a white 2019 Impreza, isn't destined to spend the rest of its life in a museum. It was purchased in Salt Lake City, Utah, at Nate Wade Subaru, the brand's oldest American dealer, by Dr. Craig Harmon. He didn't know he had bought his daughter a historically significant Impreza until he noticed an arch made of balloons in front of the dealership. Nate Wade parked a fully restored 360 from its private collection next to the Impreza to illustrate how far Subaru has come in 50 years. Harmon's Impreza is a run-of-the-mill Rocky Mountains-spec hatchback: white with roof rack. It'll be covered in Utah's finest road salt in just a few weeks. Nothing about it reveals the threshold it represents, and Subaru isn't planning a limited series to mark the 10-million car milestone. Instead, it's focused on keeping its streak of sales records going into the foreseeable future.

Production Mazda Vision Coupe concept, GRMN Supra, new BRZ/86 coming

After writing about what's in store for the next-generation Subaru WRX, Japan's Best Car magazine is back with more spy work on what's ahead for the coming Mazda sedan, fighting-spec GRMN Toyota Supra, and next-generation Subaru BRZ/Toyota 86. All three are supposedly headed for previews at this year's Tokyo Motor Show before rolling out in 2021 and 2022. Mazda showed the Vision Coupe concept at the 2017 Tokyo show, then sneaked a mention of a rear- and all-wheel drive "Large Architecture" and two inline-six engines into a 2019 investor's report. Best Car says that concept's production version will house a 3.0-liter Skyactiv-X SPCCI inline-six with "M-Hybrid" 48-volt assistance. Output figures remain a mystery, but the mag says engineers are aiming for 345 horsepower. The real deal isn't slated for dealers until 2022, bringing what Mazda bills as a "BMW, Audi quality car at the price of Volkswagen." A further treat: Best Car says the Hiroshima automaker is laying out a two-door version on the same platform. Not even a month after 2020 Toyota Supra chief engineer Tetsuya Tada told us, "With a sports car, the promise is to offer more performance with each additional version," this report says the full-fat GRMN Supra will raise the stakes. Expected in the latter stages of 2021, the current 335-hp Supra will get an "output eventually close to 400 ps" (about 394 horsepower) from its BMW-source 3.0-liter straight-six. Along with that will come a lighter, stiffer body, and a sportier suspension tune to manage and make the most of the 60-horse increase. Best Car says the next-generation Toyota 86 / Subaru BRZ will move to a new platform, without specifying whether it would be Toyota's TNGA platform suggested by a report in April — not that there are many other options. Neither the footprint nor the body dimensions are predicted to change, and transmissions will continue to include a six-speed manual and a six-speed automatic. The new platform will hold a new engine, although it won't be the revelation many fans want. The magazine says the Subaru 2.0-liter FA20 will retire, making way for the Subaru 2.4-liter FA24. The FA24 is the same engine in the Subaru Ascent crossover, where it produces 260 hp and 277 lb-ft. There'll be no such fireworks for the sporty twins due in the first half of 2021, output reported to be "improved to 220 ps," or 217 hp — a 12-hp bump over the current figure.

Subaru PHEV coming later this year using Toyota Prius Prime tech

Subaru plans to release an all-wheel drive plug-in hybrid later this year, and has joined forces with a league of Japanese automakers and suppliers to make it happen. Subaru has said the PHEV will be a conversion of a current model, but hasn't named the model. The prominent hybrid bits are expected to come from the Toyota Prius Prime — Toyota has a 16.5 percent stake in Subaru — but Subaru will retain its longitudinally mounted boxer engine. We know that said Subie will be built in Japan and sent to the U.S, so theories have coalesced around the Crosstrek or Forester, built at Subaru's Gunma, Japan factory. The Crosstrek was just redesigned for 2018, the 2019 Forester is expected sometime this year. If the model ends up being a Crosstrek PHEV, that would mean hybrid lightning striking that car twice: Subaru introduced a Crosstrek Hybrid in 2013, then removed it from the market in 2017 after slow sales. Assuming a wholesale transplant from the Prius Prime, the Subaru PHEV would get an 8.8-kWh lithium-ion battery that can be recharged at a household outlet in under six hours. The Prius Prime is rated at 133 mpge, 54 mpg combined, and runs for 25 miles in EV mode, but Subaru's model being all-wheel drive will likely alter those numbers. Subaru will launch its PHEV first in the 10 states that adhere to California's Zero Emissions Vehicle program. The PHEV is part of the Japanese carmaker's multi-year plan to reduce its fleet emissions, first described four years ago. Come 2020, the trademark boxer engines should come with cylinder deactivation and lean burning Atkinson cycles, around the same time that Subaru stops turbodiesel sales in Europe and Australia. The brand's first full EVs are due in 2021, expected to be electric versions of conventionally powered models. To jumpstart its EV research, and make its comparatively small R&D budget stretch further, last year Subaru joined in on the EV Common Architecture Spirit Company with Toyota, Mazda, Suzuki, Daihatsu, Denso and Hino. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2018 Subaru Crosstrek: First Drive View 29 Photos News Source: Autoweek via Carscoops Green Subaru Hybrid toyota prius prime subaru crosstrek