Subaru Impreza 2020: Facelifted hatch and sedan gets even more safety features

Subaru has unveiled a facelifted Impreza sedan for 2020 in its home market of Japan.

The updated sedan and hatch gets a new, more streamlined front fascia, bringing it more in-line with the updated left-hand-drive 2020 Liberty and Outback models on sale in the US. It also scores tweaked alloy wheel designs across the range.

Increased specification on the 2020 Impreza for the Japanese market includes a front-facing parking camera, tweaked door mirrors with auto-tilting reverse function, adaptive LED high-beams also seen in the current Forester range, power seat memory functions, and torque vectoring across the range.

The Impreza's slew of updates are minor, but effective.

The entire Impreza range continues to be offered with Subaru’s comprehensive stereo-camera-based EyeSight safety suite which includes auto emergency braking (AEB), lane departure warning (LDW) with lane keep assist (LKAS), blind spot monitoring (BSM), active cruise control, traffic assist, and rear cross-traffic alert (RCTA).

In Japan the Impreza sedan and hatch are offered with a version of the Levorg’s 1.6-litre turbo four-cylinder boxer engine (85kW/148Nm), or the carryover 2.0-litre turbo boxer (113kW/196Nm) in both front- and all-wheel drive.

The Impreza is available as a front-drive with a less powerful engine in Japan - both can be considered ruled out for Australia.

Currently, Australian-delivered Imprezas are only available in AWD with a 115kW/196Nm version of the 2.0-litre engine mated to a continuously variable transmission (CVT). Subaru has ruled out the 1.6-litre engine for Australian Imprezas for the foreseeable future, and front-wheel drive does not align with the brand’s all-wheel-drive strategy for the Australian market (with the notable exception of the BRZ).

The current Impreza was last updated on Australian shores in 2017. Subaru Australia representatives said they can’t confirm the incoming Impreza’s specification for Australia, but said to look forward to more information closer to 2020. The brand did confirm that it will stick to its all-wheel drive ethos locally for the foreseeable future.

The 2020 Impreza's interior will be near-identical to the current model.

There’s no word yet on a hybridised Impreza, but Subaru’s local operation was able to confirm that the brand’s ‘eBoxer’ drivetrains will debut on the XV and Forester SUVs in “Q1 2020” citing "unprecedented" demand from Australian consumers.

Subaru shares significant amounts of its upcoming hybrid technology in a tech agreement with Toyota.