New Grille May Indicate Future Subaru Styling Trend
As of late, it's difficult to tell what is going on at Subaru. From a North American perspective, things appear to be moving in a positive direction with the recent introduction of turbochargers for its recently updated Forester, funky Baja, and insanely fun WRX STi, while a much more mainstream Legacy looks ready to make its mark on the midsize segment of the market in the not too distant future.
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| Currently struggling in the Japanese market, Subaru hopes their new compact van concept will improve their standings. (Photo: Subaru) |
But on the eastern side of the world the story is slightly different. Struggling in its home market of Japan, Subaru has neither diesel engines nor city-friendly people carriers available. It is this latter category that the Fuji Heavy Industries division intends to improve upon, with something like the mid-sized family hauler shown.
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| Inspired by the Fuore-designed B11-S show car, the compact van concept is the second car to sport Subaru's possible new grille design. (Photo: Subaru) |
A Subaru minivan? Well, actually the quirky Japanese automaker already has one in place thanks to cooperation from partner General Motors. Dubbed the Traviq, it's a rebadged euro-market Opel Zafira, but without Subaru's horizontally-opposed engine configuration or all-wheel drive - staples of the brand.
Its styling looks to be partially inspired by the Fuore-designed B11-S show car (see Subaru Concepts), at least up front where the inclusion of a distinct teardrop grille sets it apart from other manufacturers. Being that this is Subaru's second concept to sport the new grille, it may be indicative of future production cars.