Chicago show: Subaru to reveal next Liberty

SUBARU will reveal its new-generation Legacy (nee Liberty) at the Chicago motor show on February 7.

Parent company Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) released a teaser image overnight of the sixth-generation car that hints at a more streamlined design than the current model, but one that retains some semblance of its angularity.

The car on show in the Windy City will be a US market version, but this will translate relatively unscathed into the Australian version, which will likely launch at the start of 2015 but could feasibly sneak into very late 2014.

FHI claims the new model will be a sharper dynamic tool than at present, and will feature enhanced quality – perhaps signalling a return to the ethos of its sleeker, Euro-style fourth-generation model.

Subaru will also retain its signature all-wheel-drive configuration.

The emergence of the road-going Legacy comes about four months after the world premiere of a concept version in Los Angeles last November. Naturally, the road car won’t mirror the concept’s wild lines, but it may echo its appreciably larger dimensions over the outgoing Legacy/Liberty.

At 4930mm long, 1940mm wide and 1500mm high on a 2800mm wheelbase, the show car was appreciably longer and wider than the current production model, and roughly as large as a Holden Commodore.