Next Subaru WRX Could Lose What Made It Famous

Boxer. Turbo. All-Wheel Drive

If you combine those three words together, it can only be one car. For those who still need a hint, that’s none other than the Subaru WRX. Okay, the Forester was available with a turbo, but the WRX is the definitive car that has those key ingredients.

The WRX, then known as the Impreza WRX, was born out of necessity. Subaru wanted to mount an even more serious challenge in the World Rally Championship, and the larger Legacy wasn’t cutting it anymore. So, the company took its Impreza, itself a chopped Legacy, and gave it the same turbocharged boxer engine from its big brother to create the WRX. It then needed to homologate it, hence why we ended up with these cars in the first place.

America was denied the first-gen WRXs, but Subaru of America made amends by finally launching the second-gen model stateside in 2001 for the 2002 model year. Not long after that, America finally got the WRX STI models. The cars gained more tech and power through the years, but the formula remained the same: Turbo, boxer, all-wheel drive.

Hybrid Power Ahead?

The current WRX was launched in 2021 for the 2022 model year. Starting at under $35,000, it’s a performance bargain and stays true to its attainable sports-compact roots. That said, it’s sad that hopes for a full-on STI model are quickly diminishing, and our longing for it isn’t helped by Subaru’s knack of giving the world ‘STI-lite’ models instead of the real deal.

But it appears that the sporty compact is at a crossroads at the moment. There’s no doubt that mobility is getting more and more electrified these days, be it as hybrid or EV, but the next-gen model might be getting some battery-powered assistance. The worrying part? It might lose the turbo in the process.

The Spy Shots Aren’t Promising

A few examples of the redesigned WRX have been spotted in Japan, with a couple of them snapped by eagle-eyed spies. One photo of it was recently shared by Australian publication Drive, and there’s something missing in the picture.

If you clicked the link and saw the photo, you might have noticed the lack of a hood scoop on the car shown. Granted, it’s the Levorg or WRX Sportswagon, as it’s called in most places, but those cars also have that distinct feature in their current guises. Even the higher-riding Levorg Layback with fewer performance ambitions has the hood scoop.

Drive says the new WRX will instead utilize a more powerful version of Subaru’s ‘Strong Hybrid’ system that’s currently used in the Forester. While we’re all for more power, we fear that going in that direction will result in less character.

Cautiously Optimistic

Of course, it’s hard to say for certain what Subaru really has in store for the future WRX. It’s possible that the intercooler will simply be moved to the bottom by the front bumper, which is highly uncharacteristic of the brand. There’s also the possibility of it having an integrated air scoop in its grille, just like the Japan-only Forester Turbo.

Let’s also not discount the likelihood of Subaru adapting a turbo-hybrid powertrain for the WRX. The idea isn’t new, and many automakers have adapted to that kind of configuration. However, going for that means we might not see a manual transmission option. That said, Subaru has filed a patent for a simulated manual transmission, and it might be applied to hybrids, too.