Subaru was ahead of the game featuring all-wheel drivetrain which offered safe, practical and reliable cars which had performance all in a small sized passenger vehicle. Their boxer engine design has proven durable and the utilitarian Forester and Outback came out well before other manufacturers decided to produce ‘car based’ cross-over SUVs. Unfortunately they have lagged behind in improving engine efficiency and desirable design — the ant-eating Trebeca.

In the last few years though, Subaru engineers have been working with Toyota to develop hybrid technology and at the same time worked on their new boxer turbo diesel powerplant. An article in LeftLaneNews has also mentioned that diesel is moving past the hybrid development and that they plan on getting a diesel car to the market next year … in Europe. Unfortunately, the article also hints that “the U.S. market could have to wait until 2012 to get the new diesels.”