Leading up to the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, Subaru teased us with the news that the Subaru BRZ Prologue (shown in the gallery on the right) would be coming to the German show but while that car turned out to be more of a display of the drivetrain, when the 2011 LA Auto Show opens we will get our first look at the Subaru BRZ – body and all.
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Unfortunately, there is an odd twist to this story as Subaru has stated that when the BRZ Concept debuts in LA, it will not wear any of the body panels destined for the production version of the sports coupe. Turns out that there is an agreement between Toyota and Subaru in this joint sports car development that neither will show any production-ready body panels until both companies debut their own versions at the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show, so at the LA show we can expect to see the Subaru BRZ wearing some uber aggressive skin that won’t be included in the production version later this year.
When the Subaru BRZ makes it concept debut at the 2011 LA Auto Show, we can expect it to feature the 2.0L, 200 horsepower Boxer engine mated to a 6-speed transmission and a rare rear wheel drive application. The BRZ is expected to be mechanically identical to the Toyota FT-86ii and the Scion FR-S, and while many of the sport coupes body panels will be the same across all three brands, we can expect the Subaru to have unique fascias to allow it to stand apart from the Toyota and Scion models – which will likely be identical in every way shy of the badging.
There is also speculation that the new Subaru BRZ Concept debuting in the skin at the LA Auto Show will sport the brand’s high performance STi badging. There has been no indication from Subaru that there will indeed be a high performance model but the fact that they might be showing off a concept STi version leads one to believe that there is at least some chance of a BRZ-based STi model hitting production at some point. While the BRZ chassis doesn’t appear to be AWD friendly (and the lack of AWD comes as a painful burn to many Subbie enthusiasts), perhaps a turbocharged version of the 2.0L Boxer engine packing closer to 300 horsepower would certainly be a fantastic way for Subaru to introduce the world to their first ever high performance front engine, rear wheel drive vehicle.
With any luck, the concept debut of the Subaru BRZ at the 2011 LA Auto Show will bring us more information – such as official power or performance numbers – but in any case it will be great to finally see what the upcoming RWD Subaru sports car might look like.
Other News on the Toyota/Subaru joint sports car:
The Subaru BRZ Prologue makes its debut in Frankfurt - sort of
The Toyota FT-86ii Concept shows up at Frankfurt with little change
Subaru: Toyota-based sports car is coming to the US with RWD
Scion finally reveals the FR-S Sport Coupe Concept at NYIAS
Source: Car and Driver
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