Next Impreza To Be Based off the Toyota Corolla

Akio Toyoda, President of Subaru’s parent company, Toyota, has announced that the next Subaru Impreza would be based on the venerable Toyota Corolla.

In a statement to select members of the press, Toyoda was quoted as saying, “We [at Toyota] are always looking to consolidate redundant parts of our lineup so we can pass our cost savings on to our customers. Because of this, we are pleased to announce that the next generation of the Subaru Impreza will be based on our Toyota Corolla, which is the best selling car in the world.”

While Toyoda declined to discuss a timeline for the changes, he did mention that Subaru’s signature boxer engines and symmetrical all wheel drive would not be carried over to the new Impreza because of, “[the] inefficient nature of the design.” He declined to comment further.

Toyoda did however make great note of his excitement over the Impreza’s changes, “Combining Corolla and Impreza designs makes perfect sense. They share the same area on the marketplace and while the Impreza is unique, it was never a class leader. Nevertheless, [the Impreza] will now have the same DNA inside that helped [Toyota] sell over 40 million Corollas.”

A Toyota insider later broke down the changes for us. The new Subaru Impreza will share very little with the Impreza concept that was shown at last year’s Los Angeles Auto Show. Instead the new Impreza will receive a face lift to look more similar to its Corolla cousin. Our insider also told us that under the hood, the new Impreza would get the Corolla’s 1.8L 4-cylinder engine driving the front wheels. Lastly and most unfortunately of all, our insider told us that Toyoda will relegate the WRX and WRX STI nameplates to being no more than sporty trim packages with, “Very little, if any,” more power added.

UPDATE 04/01/2011: Sorry to pull one over on you guys, but April Fool’s!!! This is all complete fallacy!