From Edmund's Inside Line

Subaru to Show 2006 World Rally Impreza Prototype at Frankfurt
Date Posted 08-12-2005

TOKYO — Subaru will be displaying an awesome-looking machine — a preview of next year's World Rally Impreza — at September's Frankfurt Motor Show.

When Subaru redesigned the Impreza WRX this summer, giving its super-fast 4WD sedan a whole new front end, it was inevitable the changes would eventually find their way through to its production WRC.

And now they have. Complete with requisite bulging bodywork, massive front air dam and Subaru-blue warpaint, this show prototype/replica also shows off the new corporate Subaru look. The central grille is designed to represent a turbine with "wings" on either side, all denoting the aircraft ancestry of Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru's parent company.

Subaru is a longtime supporter of the World Rally Championship, which this year has 16 rounds and currently has Subaru placed fourth out of six factory teams.

The U.K.-based Subaru World Rally Championship Team will be entering this new-shape factory car in the 2006 World Rally Championship. Meantime, in the United States, chances are this deeply sexy Impreza WRC contender will be playing at a video game console near you, very soon.

What this means to you: Impreza gearheads everywhere now have a new icon to lust after.