Like the Toyota Crown, now the Subaru Levorg is also turning into a crossover
A few months ago, the very popular Toyota Crown, which was traditionally only sold as a sedan, was revamped as a crossover SUV type vehicle and given that SUVs are far outselling sedans these days, it is no surprise. Now Subaru is possibly doing the same thing with its Levorg with the newly teased Subaru Levorg Layback.
Sadly this new Subaru has only been announced for the Japanese market only and is called the Levorg Layback. The new variant of the wagon adopts SUV-style features and was teased ahead of its debut. Overall, the Levorg Layback sounds like a wagon equivalent to the Crosstrek, which sports crossover styling.
Moreover, Subaru also said that the Levorg Layback was developed for the Japanese market, describing it as a “unique SUV.” The Layback is based on the second generation Subaru Levorg which was originally introduced in 2020 but, the dark teaser images reveal a number of changes, resulting in a crossover stance.
The front bumper of the Levorg also seems redesigned, featuring a wider grille and an aluminum-style trim connecting the LED headlights. The bumper intakes also seem to have been changed along with a new design for the alloy wheels. Finally, there is a single shot of the interior, revealing a two-tone leather upholstery with gold stitching.
On top of that, Subaru did not announce the technical specifications of the Levorg Layback yet but chances are it will feature a version-specific suspension setup with increased ground clearance to further improve its off-road credentials. The Levorg is also already available with the brand’s Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive system too.
As for the powertrains, the standard Levorg offers the choice between two turbocharged four-cylinder boxer engines exclusively mated to a CVT gearbox, the former is a 1.8-litre making 174hp while the 2.4-litre from the WRX produces 271hp. It is likely that the Layback will feature the 2.4-litre if it only gets one choice.
Pre-orders for the Subaru Levorg Layback will begin at Subaru dealers in Japan starting on 7 September 2023 and the debut of the model is scheduled for this fall, so we will likely learn more about it in the next month or so.
It remains to be seen if Subaru will keep the Layback as a Japan-only model after its launch, since other markets would certainly be interested in a compact crossover wagon, even here in Malaysia, as SUVs are becoming more popular everyday while wagons are still popular as well among certain groups, but we shall have to wait and see.
We got all this from Carscoops and their full article is linked here. Thank you Carscoops for the information and images.
