The move to a hatch was to attract potential buyers in Europe, where Subaru still only achieves limited success. The new car will compete with the Euro hot–hatches such as Volkswagen’s Golf GTi and the sporty Alfa 147s. The Subaru will continue to use a symmetrical AWD system and the boxer 4-cylinder engine. A display model that’s much closer to the production version is likely to make an appearance at next years' Geneva Motorshow.
Pictured above is the B5 concept car and click here for our previous spy-shot of the STi hatch.