Though not outright owners, the company's controlling interest none-the-less means that Subaru is an extended part of the Toyota giant, and without doubt a sporting one at that.
The fruits of that partnership have as of yet, well there haven't been any. Toyota did however have wonderful sporting cars in its past, and among all the MR-2, Supra, and Celica on the roads, one of the largest cult heroes has become the econobox-cum-drifter Corolla AE-86.
With Subaru's help, we may just see the second coming of the 86.
Mating Subaru's characterful H-4 with a lightened, shrunk Impreza chassis with power only to the rear wheels should make for a most entertaining auto. The possibility of a turbo version, likely 2.5 liters like the bigger Subarus, that much more so.
Thankfully, affordability is a main point of development.
And should the 86 inspired car prove successful (we can only hope) don;t discount the possibility of the return of the GT-4 nameplate, on a Celica that is.
Our take? Such a promising car needs a cool nickname. “Toyobaru” has already been mentioned, but something more intense is in order. What say you?