2009 Tokyo Auto Show: Subaru 'Hybrid Tourer Concept' Keeps AWD, Boxer Engine

Subaru is set to unveil a new hybrid concept at the upcoming 2009 Tokyo Auto Show - a gull-wing touring car with technology features that presage the real thing the automaker is slated to put into production as early as 2011.

The Subaru Hybrid Tourer Concept - catchy name! - will combine Subaru's famed symmetrical all-wheel drive and horizontally opposed "boxer" engine with a next-generation automatic transmission and two-motor hybrid system.

The automaker, owned by Fuji Heavy industries with Toyota Motor Corp. as a sizable minority stakeholder, isn't offering much detail about its hybrid system this early in the game, but has said in the past that it intends to license technology from Toyota.

What info Fuji Heavy has provided includes the tidbit that the system will include a company-developed lithium-on battery derived from the li-ion pack used in the recently launched, Japanese-market Subaru Stella EV.

The hybrid drivetrain described in a Subaru press release says the front electric motor will serve primarily as a power generator, kicking in to assist the gas engine and rear electric motor when uphill acceleration demands it.

The rear electric motor will drive the rear wheels during acceleration, and provide for all-electric mode at "extremely low speeds" (think parking lots, or pulling the car into the garage).

The gas engine, a turbocharged, direct-injected 2-liter boxer, will provide motive power under normal driving conditions, the company says.

Inside, the touring hybrid concept will feature four independently mounted, ventilated bucket seats, leather upholstery, a movable dashboard top that adjusts to the driver's preference, a flat floor in the rear for improved access and seating comfort, and a specially coated windshield that reduces driver eyestrain.

We expect the production Subaru hybrid might share some of the concept's body styling and much of the hybrid power and drive trains. But as is usual with concepts, most of the flashy show-car touches, including the fancy interior and those wonderful gull-wing doors, aren't likely to make it into dealer showrooms.

More to come, we hope, from the Fuji Heavy Industries press conference at the Tokyo Auto Show on Oct. 21.

John O'Dell, Senior Editor

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John O'Dell September 29, 2009, 9:00 PM

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