Subaru bringing a new performance concept, Crosstrek Hybrid to New York (Video)

Subaru of America has announced that when the 2013 New York Auto Show opens later this month, the new Subaru XV Crosstrek Hybrid will mark the brand’s entry into the hybrid segment – along with being joined by a mystery performance concept car that this writer hopes is either the new WRX or the turbocharged version of the BRZ.

The announcement from Subaru of America today was short but sweet – focusing on the arrival of their first ever production hybrid model with the debut of the Subaru XV Crosstrek Hybrid at the 2013 New York International Auto Show. After seeing the popularity of the new XV Crosstrek, Subaru opted to design a hybrid version fitted with a new in-house engineered hybrid drive system while still featuring the go-anywhere Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive system that has come to define the Subaru brand. No specifications have been announced but with the Big Apple show set to open to the media next Wednesday – it should only be a week before we know everything that there is to know about the Japanese automaker’s first hybrid model. We do know from the short video below that the XV Crosstrek Hybrid should be the most efficient all wheel drive crossover in America when it arrives in the Fall of 2013.

In addition to the new XV Crosstrek Hybrid, Subaru will debut an “all new” performance concept car at the 2013 New York Auto Show and what that car might be is a total mystery right now. The obvious guess would be that this new performance concept could be another performance model of the popular Subaru BRZ coupe but with that having been done before – it really wouldn’t be “all new”. There have been endless rumors of a turbocharged version of the BRZ arriving in the US with enough power to properly wear the “STI” badge and the performance concept coming to New York might just be a higher performance version of the BRZ. A BRZ STI will somewhere in the area of 300 horsepower would surely satisfy those Subbie fans who arent happy with the 197hp output of the standard BRZ and with 300 horsepower in the lightweight chassis – the BRZ STI could be a serious contender for the American muscle cars.

The more likely option for the mystery performance concept coming to New York would be the next generation of the Subaru Impreza WRX. While the base (non-performance) Impreza got a refresh for the 2012 model year, the high performance WRX and WRX STI have continued on with the exterior design of the previous generation Impreza. You would think that, at some point, Subaru would bring the WRX and STI models up to the current generation and perhaps the Javits Center in New York could be the launching grounds for the first conceptual version of the next generation WRX and STI. Realistically, there is a good chance that if the mystery performance car coming to New York is a performance version of the Impreza, it would most likely be the WRX with the STI debuting at a later date. This is, of course, if Subaru doesn’t do what some rumors suggest and split the performance oriented WRX and STI off of the Impreza into their own uniquely named models.

In any case, the 2013 New York International Auto Show opens in the Big Apple’s Jacob Javits Center next Wednesday to the media with the doors opening to the public on Friday, March 29th. Bookmark TorqueNews now and check back frequently for more previews leading up to the NY Auto Show along with full coverage of the show when it opens next week!