If hearing the words "Subaru" and "Diesel" in the same sentences sounds kind of strange to you that is normal, the Japanese manufacturer never ever used any, not even for its "non sporty" line up of cars.
However, over the last couple years, Subaru has seen its sales rising in Europe, in 2006 the 70.000 vehicles number was reached (a record), as a result they are now aiming at 100 thousand units in 2009...that is a 40% sales increase in only 3 years !
A challenging but achievable target, to get there on the European continent, Subaru plans on launching news models every year and, most of all, proposing a powerful diesel engine!
When I think of Subaru, what comes in my mind first is the World Rally Championship and the Impreza WRX, which is quite far from the idea one can have of a diesel engine...but times have changed (Audi at LeMans?) and Subaru says "...a Subaru Boxer diesel engine is something that many customers have been dreaming of and asking for and for a long time" and it is true that diesel engines have radically changed.
So Subaru came to the Geneva auto salon with more than these thoughts and presented (world premiere) the engine itself, a major step in the history of the manufacturer!
Indeed this is the world's first horizontally-opposed turbo diesel and it will be available on the European market early next year. It is expected to "offer the perfect balance between the low vibration and reliable torque of a diesel engine and the smoothness of a horizontally-opposed powertrain" and a "very sporty driving experience" combined with the well known Subaru Symmetrical AWD system.
Despite those words we are still missing the usual specification numbers of the motor such as torque/power/cubic capacity that most of us are fond of, especially when it comes to a car manufacturer like Subaru which has, for many years, provided high sensations vehicles!
Posted on 08/03/07 By F.B
