Subaru To Rekindle Old Impreza Passion With An EV

Subaru plans to “rekindle old passions” with the launch of a new sports model that will lead an offensive of seven new electric cars planned for the European market by the end of 2028.

The Japanese manufacturer, which gained the status of a legend thanks to its rally performances in the late 1990s and early 2000s, now wants to transfer that sporting dynamism to the electric era and thus revive enthusiasm for the brand.

Fans of the brand have long called for a return to the cars that made Subaru famous in Europe, before massive success in markets like the US and Australia shifted the company’s focus from performance models to rugged estates and SUVs. It seems that electrification could be the unexpected catalyst that will enable the resurgence of fast Subarus.

David Dello Stritto, General Manager of Subaru for Europe, confirmed that something is in the works. “Electric vehicles are coming and making things possible again that we dreamed about, so we’re almost seeing a revival of that blue car with yellow paint. It’s becoming possible again,” he said. “This is very exciting; they are not the biggest group of Subaru buyers in Europe, but they are very vocal and keep pushing us.”

“Now that we have electric powertrains that allow us to do that, maybe at some point in the future we’ll be able to start playing with that,” Dello Stritto added.

However, the road to the Impreza’s electric successor is not without its challenges. An unnamed source at Subaru admitted it was aware the brand had been “out of the game for a long time”. “It would be good to come back, although it’s still a little early to say what that would look like,” said an unnamed source from the Japanese marque.

Interestingly, this potential sports model will probably be developed by Subaru independently, unlike most new electric vehicles that are created in cooperation with Toyota. Still, Subaru insists it’s working hard to make its cars feel “more Subaru,” citing as many as 146 differences between the Solterra SUV and its Toyota bZ4X sister model as evidence of those efforts.

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