Subaru also reports that we can expect a turbocharged boxer-4 diesel for the WRX by early 2009. The company is eager to drop a high-mpg diesel into the Forester and Impreza soon after the Legacy gets Subaru's first diesel next summer, so the WRX is part of the program. And word from inside Subaru City also confirms that the company is working on a five-speed automatic and a continuously variable transmission, and both these options could be offered as early as mid-2009.

Apparently it will not feature a dual-clutch sequential manual transmission with steering-wheel-mounted shift paddles. Aisin, one of the largest transmission manufacturers in Japan, is developing this technology for Subaru, but it won't appear until the 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX STI.