2012 Subaru Impreza to Come With Big Fuel Economy Boost
By (Display Name not set) April 11, 2011Subaru says it is boosting the highway fuel economy of its Impreza compact by more than 30 percent, a move that likely will make the model the most fuel-efficient four-wheel drive vehicle in the U.S. for the 2012 model year.
Most governments, including the U.S., are demanding greater fuel efficiency from automakers and Subaru, whose cars are among the least efficient of all Japanese brands, is particularly under the gun to make big improvements, quickly.
It stands out as the only automaker whose entire lineup features four-wheel drive as standard equipment, but that kind of drivetrain tends to deliver less fuel economy than two-wheel drive systems.
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2011 Subaru Impreza
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The company’s 2010 model year fleetwide fuel economy of 23.3 miles per gallon placed it eighth among the 14 brands measured by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and second-worst only to Mazda among Japanese automakers.
With that in mind, Subaru, a division of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., is planning on selling its first hybrid-electric vehicle in the U.S. in 2013, though the company has disclosed few details about the vehicle. Subaru in 2009 started selling its 63-horsepower Stella battery-electric vehicle in Japan.
Thh Impreza, however, is likely to outsell an EV by a huge margin, so Subaru is looking to reignite demand for the model. Although Subaru posted record 2010 U.S. sales with a 21 percent jump from the previous year, sales of the compact compact were down 4.8 percent. Subaru sold almost 264,000 vehicles in the U.S. last year, but only 44,000 were Imprezas.
The 2011 model, which has a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine, gets an EPA-rated 22 miles per gallon combined, including 20 mpg city and 27 mpg highway ratings, with a 5-speed manual transmission configuration. An available autonmatic transmission drops highway fuel economy to 26 mpg. The turbocharged, 265-horsepower WRX version delivers just 21 mpg overall while the high-performance, 305-horsepower WRX STi version gets 20 miles per gallon combined.
Danny King, Contributor
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