Subaru’s tweener wagon has been discontinued in Australia, but it will return soon with a more defined mission.
CarExpert understands the second-generation Subaru Levorg will arrive in the fourth quarter of this year.
With production of the first-generation Levorg having ended, the small/mid-sized wagon has been withdrawn from sale in Australia.
At the time of publication, there are just five new examples of the outgoing model left in Subaru’s dealership network.
Second-generation Levorg 
A second-generation model was revealed in Japan last year, though Subaru Australia has said when it comes here it’ll have a more overt performance focus.
That means the turbocharged 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine in the new Levorg, which produces 130kW of power and 300Nm of torque, likely won’t come here.
“We see Levorg very much as a niche performance product,” Subaru Australia communications boss, David Rowley, told CarExpert.
“While the car in Japan cosmetically will give you some clues, the [Australian] specification will be quite considerably different to what’s in the Japan Domestic Market.
“I think I can say confidently… as a Subaru performance enthusiast you won’t be disappointed by it.”
That suggests the Levorg will become a spiritual successor to the first two generations of Impreza WRX, when Subaru’s small car had a more wagon-like silhouette than today’s hatchback shape.
Even in its outgoing guise, the Levorg was a niche product. Last year, Subaru sold just 306 examples against 407 BRZ coupes and 925 examples of its now defunct Liberty sedan.
Just six were sold last month.
Two turbocharged four-cylinder powertrains were offered: a 1.6-litre, producing 125kW of power and 250Nm of torque, and a 2.0-litre with 197kW of power and 350Nm of torque.
The more powerful of the two engines is also found in the WRX, though the Levorg lacked its six-speed manual transmission and instead offered only a continuously-variable transmission.
The flagship model featured various STI enhancements and the STI Sport badge, though not the WRX STI’s engine.
Launched in 2016, the Levorg slotted in between the Impreza and the now discontinued Liberty.
It helped fill a gap left by the axing of the Liberty wagon in 2014, which left the high-riding Outback as the only Subaru with a traditional wagon silhouette.
For a while the Levorg posted solid numbers, particularly for an unpopular body style in an ailing segment.
2017 Levorg GT-S 
Subaru sold 1621 in its first year, followed by 1210 units the year after.
Classified in VFACTS as a mid-sizer, those early numbers saw it outselling the likes of the Hyundai i40 and Kia Optima.
