Impreza: going back to its roots
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Car Info: 2002MY Impreza WRX
Impreza: going back to its roots
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http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1483007
Back to the future
By Bob Jennings
The Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday July 7 2004
The next generation Subaru WRX will return the car to its roots: small, agile and quick.
The startled look of the "goggle-eyed" Subaru Impreza is unlikely to be seen again -- and the new model due in 2006 will revive the ingredients that made the original a cult car.
Subaru has learnt its lesson from the design faux pas it made with the daring 2000 model (pictured), judging by the interest the designer of the next generation Impreza has in the opinion of Australian buyers.
Hiroshi Mori, project general manager of Subaru's product planning division, made a discreet visit to Australia recently for the Rally of Canberra. He was there as a guest of Subaru, which sponsored the rally, but his main interest was catching up with local owners at the Subaru WRX Festival (which was on at the same time), who expressed their opinions in no uncertain terms.
Australia is Subaru's third-biggest market outside Japan and the US, and Subaru is aware that with successive generations of the Impreza it has become larger, heavier and, in some respects, slower. Potential repeat buyers of the new model have suggested that this is not what they are seeking.
Significantly, Mori says previous conservatism and adverse reaction to the controversial "bug-eyed" Impreza had forced a major design rethink and that styling is playing a more important role in the development of the next model Subaru Impreza.
"In the past, performance was a priority. Safety and then design were next," Mori says. "But at the time of the introduction of the new Liberty, we realised that design is as important as performance."
Subaru is well into the design process of the next generation Impreza, which is due to be introduced in late 2006, and the exterior styling should be signed off before the end of the year.
In Canberra, Mori wanted to get a feel for what WRX fans desired from the next Impreza in terms of styling, packaging and performance, although the hard points of these aspects of the vehicle are well on to the way to being locked in.
Mori says the next generation Impreza -- and the flagship turbo WRX -- will be "an aggressive" car.
Drive's correspondent in Japan, Peter Lyon, reports there are some design staff at Subaru's headquarters who feel the four-door boxy shape is the path Subaru should be going down but they have been overruled by those who believe the next Impreza should be smaller, lighter and more stylish, along the lines of the World Rally Championship contenders such as the Citroen Xsara and Peugeot 307 CC.
There are also suggestions in Japan that there will be a smaller, lighter, more compact three-door hatch-like Impreza in the range when it surfaces and the new model will boast performance equal to, if not better, than the current model.
Joining the Impreza line-up further into its model life, in five to six years, is expected to be a hybrid-powered version which will link the conventional horizontally opposed four-cylinder engine with an electric motor.
When the "goggled-eyed" WRX was released in 2000, the then designer, Mamoru Ishii, rebutted criticism of the car's bold styling and dismissed the original Impreza as boring.
When spy photos of the 2000 model appeared, enthusiasts likened the look of the car to everything from a Toyota Corolla to a frightened deer. Many owners on internet chat sites said they would not buy the new model because it had lost its macho image.
"I knew there would be negative feeling," Ishii told Drive in September 2000. "The Japanese reports are 50 percent positive and 50 percent negative.
"We wanted to give the car some presence. We wanted strong styling and strong character. I will concede that it is dangerous to go too strong and have everybody hate it but I don't think we have crossed that line."
Ishii said Europe was the biggest design influence. "We've tried to capture [the essence of] Mercedes, Porsche and Jaguar," he said.
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1483007
Back to the future
By Bob Jennings
The Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday July 7 2004
The next generation Subaru WRX will return the car to its roots: small, agile and quick.
The startled look of the "goggle-eyed" Subaru Impreza is unlikely to be seen again -- and the new model due in 2006 will revive the ingredients that made the original a cult car.
Subaru has learnt its lesson from the design faux pas it made with the daring 2000 model (pictured), judging by the interest the designer of the next generation Impreza has in the opinion of Australian buyers.
Hiroshi Mori, project general manager of Subaru's product planning division, made a discreet visit to Australia recently for the Rally of Canberra. He was there as a guest of Subaru, which sponsored the rally, but his main interest was catching up with local owners at the Subaru WRX Festival (which was on at the same time), who expressed their opinions in no uncertain terms.
Australia is Subaru's third-biggest market outside Japan and the US, and Subaru is aware that with successive generations of the Impreza it has become larger, heavier and, in some respects, slower. Potential repeat buyers of the new model have suggested that this is not what they are seeking.
Significantly, Mori says previous conservatism and adverse reaction to the controversial "bug-eyed" Impreza had forced a major design rethink and that styling is playing a more important role in the development of the next model Subaru Impreza.
"In the past, performance was a priority. Safety and then design were next," Mori says. "But at the time of the introduction of the new Liberty, we realised that design is as important as performance."
Subaru is well into the design process of the next generation Impreza, which is due to be introduced in late 2006, and the exterior styling should be signed off before the end of the year.
In Canberra, Mori wanted to get a feel for what WRX fans desired from the next Impreza in terms of styling, packaging and performance, although the hard points of these aspects of the vehicle are well on to the way to being locked in.
Mori says the next generation Impreza -- and the flagship turbo WRX -- will be "an aggressive" car.
Drive's correspondent in Japan, Peter Lyon, reports there are some design staff at Subaru's headquarters who feel the four-door boxy shape is the path Subaru should be going down but they have been overruled by those who believe the next Impreza should be smaller, lighter and more stylish, along the lines of the World Rally Championship contenders such as the Citroen Xsara and Peugeot 307 CC.
There are also suggestions in Japan that there will be a smaller, lighter, more compact three-door hatch-like Impreza in the range when it surfaces and the new model will boast performance equal to, if not better, than the current model.
Joining the Impreza line-up further into its model life, in five to six years, is expected to be a hybrid-powered version which will link the conventional horizontally opposed four-cylinder engine with an electric motor.
When the "goggled-eyed" WRX was released in 2000, the then designer, Mamoru Ishii, rebutted criticism of the car's bold styling and dismissed the original Impreza as boring.
When spy photos of the 2000 model appeared, enthusiasts likened the look of the car to everything from a Toyota Corolla to a frightened deer. Many owners on internet chat sites said they would not buy the new model because it had lost its macho image.
"I knew there would be negative feeling," Ishii told Drive in September 2000. "The Japanese reports are 50 percent positive and 50 percent negative.
"We wanted to give the car some presence. We wanted strong styling and strong character. I will concede that it is dangerous to go too strong and have everybody hate it but I don't think we have crossed that line."
Ishii said Europe was the biggest design influence. "We've tried to capture [the essence of] Mercedes, Porsche and Jaguar," he said.
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Originally Posted by Daredevil
cliff notes please
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Car Info: 02 Impreza WRX sedan
The bugeye may not have started a styling revolution but its U.S. debut was marked by sales far exceeding expectations, resulting in FHI ramping up production to capacity and selling every one of the ~15,000 cars made for the USDM.
May the bugeye rest in peace. May its successor rule the world.
--
0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush
May the bugeye rest in peace. May its successor rule the world.
--
0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush