Subaru, Toyota Working on Performance 5-Door Compact?

Some intriguing new speculation out of Japan has Subaru working on an all-wheel-drive hatchback model that could represent the brand’s return to top-level rallying.

The model the automaker is said to be working on carries the code name Super AWD, and is scheduled to be ready for fall of 2022, according to Australian outlet Cars Guide, which cites sources in Japan.

This would not just be a 5-door variant of the next-gen WRX either. And those who might reflexively think that such a model already exists should remember that the brand’s WRX and WRX STI models have been available only in four-door versions for several years now.

This, then, would be a wholly new model, one that would slot into the lineup beneath the WRX – though the two models would be of similar size, according to Cars Guide. The models would even share the same powertrain, a 2.4L 4-cylinder turbo, although the one in the 5-door would deliver less overall power.

Cars Guide cites the same source as saying that the model is being developed in partnership with Toyota. So what then is Toyota planning? Apparently not the GR variant that the automaker recently launched in global markets. Instead, expect a twin of the GR-labeled hot hatch planned for the North American market in the coming years.

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