Subaru Does Awesome Concepts, Boring Production Cars

by Jay Traugott Editorial / 153 Comments

Guys at Subaru, are you paying attention here?

First off, we're Subaru fans here, so consider this constructive criticism directed towards its designers: Guys, what's up with your production cars lately, specifically the new WRX? It's packaged right and affordable, yet it looks like a tuned Toyota Corolla. Your BRZ ain't bad but it could have been much prettier. And yet your latest concepts, specifically the Cross Sport, Legacy and WRX look incredible. So what's going on here? How hard is it to turn a sexy concept into an attractive production car? Apparently it's hard for you.

Heck, even Toyota has made better styling efforts with its latest Camry and Corolla. Neither of those is wonderful, but at least that Japanese automaker tried. Look, Subaru, you make awesome cars but your designers need a good kick in the balls. Our advice: hire away a top designer from a European brand. Kia did just that and now look at its cars. So now it's up to you. Are you going to continue building boxy and bland-looking cars forever or are you going to grow a pair and actually build cars that look like your concepts?