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New Subaru Impreza spawns anarchistic 2006 WRC car

It doesn't seem that long ago since Subaru's Impreza received a facelift, perhaps more in response to the dismal reception that the radical, bug-eyed car of 2001 garnered. The current Impreza is an inoffensive machine, with distinctive styling thanks to its frameless windows and shapely light clusters, with full on in your face rally replica breeding reserved for the fastest models. I must admit that we were a little worried at what was to become of the Impreza, following on from the same school of design as the butt ugly B9 Tribeca SUV Subaru showed us at this year's Geneva Motor Show.

All was well on the Subaru stand in Frankfurt though (despite the presence of the same Tribeca show car). The new Impreza looks like a clean evolution of the current car. Its biggest change is to the nose, where Subaru's new corporate grille/moustache is grafted on. Thankfully the grille is in body colour on the Impreza so it doesn't offend like the chrome offering on its big SUV brother. Along with the snout come slick new headlights similar to the Legacy's, and restyled (but not reshaped) rear lights.

On display in Frankfurt were a number of models, including the Sports Wagon derivative. I noticed that the regular WRX model now does without any rear spoiler, though retains its characteristic wheelarch blisters. It is not yet clear if that specification has been finalised for the UK market. Looks like the European arm of Subaru is taking the high end of the performance market seriously now, and lining up to fight the Mitsubishi Evo IX was the new Impreza WRX STi, with 265bhp. No doubt there will be a UK-spec car with more than 300 horses, and a performance package by Prodrive, the company responsible for Subaru's World Rally Championship efforts, and the stunningly aggressive Impreza WRC 2006 Prototype on display at the show.

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