Japan’s Levorg achieves a performance 2.4-litre and a special badge for our market.

WAGON styling will return to the new WRX here next year, that version also potentially delivering first local market taste of an engine also set to offer in the Outback. 

Revealed by Subaru overnight, a new model designated for April 2022 arrival being proposed as a special only for New Zealand and Australia is a cheeky marketing proposal.

The car to be designated a WRX GTB (for Grand Touring Boxer) Wagon here and as a Sportwagon across the Tasman is the second generation of the Levorg, which of course in previous form also shared close technical association with the make’s sports sedan. The latest Levorg has been available in Japan, but nowhere else, for a year now.

However, Subaru NZ is correct is suggesting the Australasian car has one point of regional difference: This being the powerplant.

By becoming a WRX, the model eschews the 1.8-litre flat four petrol it runs in JDM spec for the 2.4-litre turbocharged four-cylinder 'boxer' also going into the WRX sedan and, in time, a rugged Wilderness edition of the Outback.

Subaru has yet to share the 2.4’s outputs but overseas’ media are confident it will develop substantially more than the Levorg's 130kW/300Nm home market unit and also will trump the currentWRX and Levorg's 197kW and 350Nm. In the only country where it is on sale, the United States, the new WRX has 202kW and 350Nm. 

There are two hooks.

First, whereas the WRX sedan is staying old school with a six-speed manual as an alternate to a constantly variable transmission with with eight simulated 'ratios', the WRX wagon won’t. It’s CVT-only.

Second, due to Subaru being under the pump to supply sufficient cars, there’s contention that the model could become challenging to secure if it is not forward-ordered.

All-wheel drive is, of course, standard on both models.

Subaru of New Zealand’s managing director, Wallis Dumper , has explained why the GTB nameplate – previously used on a performance Legacy wagon 17 years ago – was revived in preference to continuing to use Levorg. It’s all about selling the right kind of sizzle.

 “Performance wagons have a special place in New Zealand’s Subaru history. Before WRX moved globally to sedans only, we used to sell about 50/50 sedans to wagons. 

“The Legacy GTB earned its own cult status here with literally thousands of these … flooding the market in the late 1990s. 

“When we replaced the Legacy GTB with the Levorg, although it was a great sports wagon and it sold well, many motoring industry commentators simply couldn’t adjust to its distinctive name,” he added.

He says his Auckland-based operation worked away diligently with Subaru Corporation “to find something special to take on the performance wagon mantle.” 

“The result was the 2.4T WRX-GTB and it is absolutely a worthy replacement. Born from a true rally-bred vehicle that has earned an iconic level of prestige over the decades, the WRX-GTB offers New Zealanders a performance machine with enhanced wagon-shaped practicality.”