2013 Subaru Impreza Wagon 4-door 2.0l Hatchback, Brand New! on 2040-cars

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Are you the Subaru WRX Concept for New York?

When Subaru dropped a hint about bringing an "all-new performance concept car" to the New York Auto Show this year, we immediately started hoping and praying that a conceptual iteration of the next WRX was in the offing. Looks like that might have paid off. While no official word has yet been written or uttered from Subaru, a French website called Blog Automobile has released a gallery of images that would seem to spill the beans about the WRX Concept.
If the leaked images are correct - and they look awfully complete and well done if they're not - WRX styling is taking a turn for the handsome. The sleek sedan in these images has all of the cues that we've come to expect from our rally-ready Imprezas: a dominating hood scoop and very wide stance with beefy wheels, and seems to miss only the rear wing to fit the perfect WRX stereotype. (And, yes, it should have gold wheels.)
There's no press release to be found, but the source is citing specifications as if it knows what it's talking about. We're told that 275 to 300 horsepower are the likely output of the turbocharged boxer four-cylinder engine, and that brakes with ventilated discs and six-piston calipers are there to haul the all-wheel-drive Scooby down from speed. If our earlier reporting is correct, we might expect to find an electric turbo under that imposing hood, too.

Subaru is America's third most off-roaded brand

When you think of iconic off-road brands, where does Subaru fall on your radar? Somewhere in the middle? Perhaps near the bottom? Don't worry, you're not alone. Until recently spending some time in Bend, OR, where we drove the all-new 2015 Subaru Outback, we never really pegged the Japanese automaker to be a highly lauded brand among off-road enthusiasts, despite many of the company's products actually being quite capable when the going gets rough.
But the data says we're wrong. According to a 2013 J.D. Power study, Subaru vehicles have some of the highest use off road compared to other brands - of course "off road" here just means anything not on a paved road, so even gravel trails and tame two-tracks count in these statistics. Nearly 29.5 percent of its cars are used on trails and dirt roads, with only the Ram and Jeep brands besting that statistic, at 30.2 and 31.0 percent, respectively. Said another way, Subaru sold 424,683 vehicles in the US in 2013, meaning that some 125,281 saw off-road use. Mainstream brands like GMC, Ford and Chevrolet all trail Subaru, and even Land Rover comes in at less than 20 percent.
Some 34.7 percent of Outbacks are taken off paved roads, according to J.D. Power data.

Subaru reveals WRX STI racecar for 24 Hours of N"urburgring [w/video]

Subaru has announced that it will be running a race-spec version of the upcoming WRX STI in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring in June. The 2014 race will mark the seventh year in a row that Subaru has campaigned a car at the day-long Ring race, but this will be the first race outing for the new WRX STI, which isn't set to debut until next week at the Detroit Auto Show.
Subaru will be in the SP3T class, for turbocharged engines displacing 1.75 to 2.0 liters, and is targeting its third class win, after finishing second last year. To do that, it'll be going toe-to-toe with racing versions of cars from Audi, Volkswagen and Seat.
The team will be led by Hideharu Tatsumi, who was responsible for last year's team. Drivers will include Toshihiro Yoshida and Kouta Sasaki, while another pair of European drivers will be announced at a later date.