Subaru Impreza hybrid a chance for Australia

Subaru Australia has not ruled out adding a hybrid model to the line-up of the new 2024 Subaru Impreza, which is due to go on sale in September ahead of deliveries before the end of is year.

Blair Read, managing director of Subaru's Australian distributor, told Drive that while hybrid variants of the popular hatchback remain on the company’s radar, the initial range at launch in Australia will be exclusively petrol only.

“So the hybrid model for Impreza is available in the [Japanese] domestic market only at this point in time,” Mr Read told Drive. “It's something we're monitoring with interest.

“I can rule out the plans [for a hybrid] for launch with this model. It will be a petrol model only. But [it’s] something we are watching with very keen interest on the potential for hybrid with Impreza at some stage.”

Hybrid power was introduced to the Subaru Impreza in Japan mid-way through the previous model's life cycle – with the mid-life styling update in early 2020 – but it was never made available here.

Australian government approval documents seen by Drive show all three variants in the new Impreza range - the base model 2.0L, mid-spec 2.0R and top-of-the-range 2.0S – are set to share Subaru’s 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine matched with a continuously-variable automatic transmission and standard all-wheel drive.

All are hatchbacks, with Subaru axing the four-door sedan body style, as previously reported by Drive.

In Japan, the hybrid Impreza range is fitted with the 2.0-litre 'e-Boxer' system that combines the brand’s 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with a circa-10kW electric motor, a carry-over from the previous model.

Subaru currently offers hybrid variants of its popular Forester and Crosstrek (formerly XV) range of SUVs.