Subaru to unveil ‘sharper’ BRZ next week

Subaru has announced that it will lift the covers off a new “sharper and more focussed” BRZ on 23 July 2023 at Subiefest in the United States.

The Japanese carmaker also released a teaser image of the new model’s headlight which features a cherry blossom-coloured ‘BRZ’ logo, the same colour used by Subaru Tecnica International (STI).

So we could be in for a much spicer version of the two-seat sports car, but we don’t yet know for sure as little else was said about the upcoming model.

There are however plenty of rumours circling around as to what we could be in for, and that would be more performance.

If Subaru were to up the power of the BRZ’s naturally aspirated 2.4-litre four-cylinder boxer engine, it could look at turbocharging. However, it has remained relatively quiet about whether it would go down this route.

There’s always the possibility that the sharper BRZ may forgo any power upgrades and instead receive some cosmetic and handling enhancements like a new front splitter, side skirts, and a wing, as well as tuned suspension and bigger brakes. But again, we can only speculate.

It’s worth noting that the model’s Toyota GR86 twin has also been subject to some fettling lately, as the model has been testing a modified version of the GR Yaris and GR Corolla’s 1.6-litre three-cylinder in the Japanese Super Taikyu race series recently.

Several reports suggest the 224kW engine will feature in the next-generation GR86, so it isn’t likely to debut on the new BRZ beforehand.

The Subaru BRZ isn’t sold in New Zealand from new as of writing, but models have made it onto our shores as grey imports. The GR86 on the other hand is sold new by Toyota NZ.