Subaru Celebrates AWD's 50th Anniversary and Third-Gen Crosstrek CUV Introduction

Since the company’s renowned system (now known as symmetrical AWD) debuted, more than 21 million vehicles have reaped its benefits to date, as it holds a staggering 98% count of all global sales. Plus, all deliveries of AWD cars are also combined with the iconic horizontally-opposed “Boxer” engine. But that’s just part of the gist for Subaru, today.

Oddly enough, the Japanese automaker also chose to present the all-new iteration of the Crosstrek subcompact crossover SUV (formerly also known as XV) right during the ongoing 2022 edition of NAIAS. Alas, the official unveiling did not occur in Detroit but at home in Japan, so – for future reference – we are dealing with the Japanese specification prototype in the gallery shots.

The versatile crossover SUV, now in its third generation, continues to offer the same full-fledged performance as before in a compact footprint, and now features an emphasized (as in evolutionary) design plus refined driving dynamics compared to its predecessor. Market availability is scheduled for the JDM region starting sometime next year and only afterward will there be specific regional launches for other global markets.

Safety is of paramount importance nowadays and Subaru is giving the all-new Crosstrek the latest generation EyeSight bundle complete with a JDM-first wide-angle mono camera. The internals are still under certain wraps at this point, as we only know the local Crosstrek will be offered with a 2.0-liter e-Boxer hybrid assembly linked to a Lineartronic CVT and featuring improvements in terms of reduced vibrations and noise, among others.

Of course, we expect more official information to become available closer to the start of sales, so we will update our story accordingly.