- Subaru has filed to trademark the Impreza TX name in the U.S. and Canada.
- Recent Subaru models wearing the TX badge pair turbo power with AWD.
- The current Impreza sticks with naturally aspirated 2.0L and 2.5L engines.
Subaru might finally be ready to inject some passion and energy into the Impreza hatchback. As it stands, the car comes only with mundane four-cylinder boxer engines, but a recent trademark filing has revived hope that a turbocharged version is on the way and could give the hatch the character it has been missing.
Earlier this month, Subaru filed for the name “Impreza TX” in both the US and Canada, a move first spotted by Creative311. The automaker has worn the “TX” badge before, most notably on a handful of Japan-only models like the Leone. More often, it used the reverse, XT, to mark turbocharged engines (T) and all-wheel drive (X) on the Forester and Outback.
Read: Subaru Is Building Three New Manual Cars, Including An Affordable Hatch
Subaru won’t say why it filed the TX trademark in the US and Canada, or what the badge is meant to signal. However, there is absolutely room in the Impreza line-up for a more powerful, exciting version that could serve as a hatchback alternative to the WRX.
Currently, the Impreza is sold exclusively with either a 2.0-liter naturally aspirated boxer four-cylinder producing 152 hp or a 2.5-liter mill producing 180 hp. As the Impreza already uses all-wheel drive as standard, Subaru simply needs to bolt on a turbocharger and a top-mounted intercooler to help liven up the hatch.
Turbo And Manual?
Admittedly, it may need to make a transmission change. The Impreza is sold exclusively with a CVT, but a turbocharged version would be much better suited to a manual gearbox. There’s no guarantee this will happen, however, as the WRX does just fine with a CVT.
Perhaps leading credence to the idea of the Impreza TX adopting a manual is a teaser image released by Subaru several weeks ago. It showed three new models due to arrive by 2027, each of them fitted with a manual transmission. One was a WRX, one was a BRZ, and the third looked like an Impreza hatchback.
Subaru chief technology officer and executive vice president Tetsuro Fujinuki called that last car an “affordable base car” with a “personality that is different from the WRX and the BRZ.” That glimpse may well have been the Impreza TX, caught before anyone knew its name.
