The is a mid-size car manufactured since 2014 by Subaru. According to the company, the name Levorg is an

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

of three words, LEgacy, reVOlution, touRinG. The Levorg shares its

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

with the

Impreza The is a compact car that has been manufactured by the Japanese automaker Subaru since 1992. It was introduced as a replacement for the Subaru Leone, Leone, with the predecessor's Subaru EA engine, EA series engines replaced by the new Subaru EJ ...

, Legacy and WRX. The Levorg was first shown as a pre-production

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

at the 43rd

Tokyo Motor Show The is a biennial auto show held in October–November at the Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan for cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles. Hosted by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), it is a recognized international show ...

in November 2013. Subaru began collecting orders on the Japanese market on 4 January 2014, and the car went on sale in May. In February 2015, Subaru announced the introduction of the Levorg on the European market, and the car made its première on the continent at the Geneva Motor Show in March of the same year. __TOC__

First generation (VM; 2014)

Specifications

On the domestic Japanese market the Levorg is available with two

DOHC An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion cha ...

flat-four A flat-four engine, also known as a horizontally opposed-four engine, is a four-cylinder piston engine with two banks of cylinders lying on opposite sides of a common crankshaft. The most common type of flat-four engine is the boxer-four engine, ...

petrol engine A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends (such as ' ...

s, both turbocharged,

intercooled An intercooler is a heat exchanger used to cool a gas after compression. Often found in turbocharged engines, intercoolers are also used in air compressors, air conditioners, refrigeration and gas turbines. Internal combustion engines Most ...

and direct injected: a , '' FB16'' 1.6 L and a , '' FA20'' 2.0 L. The two are coupled to a ''

Lineartronic Subaru motor vehicles have used manual, conventional automatic, and continuously variable (CVT) transmissions. Subaru manufactures its own manual and CVT transmissions (for non-Kei cars). Since the 1970s, all Subaru conventional automatic tra ...

'' continuously variable transmission and

four-wheel-drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

V-Sport

On 20 November 2019, Subaru launched the 2020 Subaru Levorg V-Sport. It features front sports seats with fabric upholstery, a leather wrapped steering wheel with silver stitching, as well as piano black and chrome trim. As with the variant it is based on, it sports Bilstein dampers, ventilated disc brakes and 225/45 R18 tires. V-Sport will be available in Japan and is priced at JPY 3,150,000.

Sales

During its advance sales before launch, Subaru received about 11,000 orders in three months, 2,000 short of its projection.

Motorsport

James Cole - 2017 BTCC Knockhill (Sunday, R1 grid)

On 12 January 2016, Subaru announced that it was entering the

British Touring Car Championship The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as ...

, as a manufacturer entry, in partnership with

Team BMR Team BMR was a British motor racing team based in Buntingford, Hertfordshire and founded by Warren Scott. The team raced in the British Touring Car Championship between 2013 and 2019 after previously entering the 2004 British Superbike Champ ...

. For the 2016 season, the team were preparing four ''Levorg Sports Tourers'' to the championship's

Next Generation Touring Car Next Generation Touring Car, also known as NGTC and by its Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) designation TCN-1, is an FIA and TOCA specification and classification for production based race cars. The specification covers nationa ...

specification. The BTCC Levorgs are configured as rear wheel drive rather than four wheel drive (which is disallowed by the championship's regulations). Former double champions

Jason Plato Timothy Jason Plato (born 14 October 1967) is a British racing driver who last competed in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) for BTC Racing. He has twice been BTCC Champion, in 2001 for Vauxhall and 2010 for Silverline Chevrolet. He ...

and

Colin Turkington Colin Henry Turkington (born 21 March 1982) is a British racing driver from Northern Ireland who competes in the British Touring Car Championship for Team BMW. He is a 4 time BTCC champion, winning the title in 2009, 2014, 2018 and 2019, havi ...

piloted the cars, along with team owner

Warren Scott Warren Scott (born 28 September 1971 in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire) is a British race driver. He has previously competed in the British Touring Car Championship with his self-run Team BMR. He has also raced in the British Superbike Cha ...

. The marque's ''FA20'' 2.0 litre

boxer engine A flat engine is a piston engine where the cylinders are located on either side of a central crankshaft. Flat engines are also known as horizontally opposed engines, however this is distinct from the less common opposed-piston engine design, wh ...

was race prepared for the team by

Mountune Racing Mountune Racing is a specialist automotive engineering company. It was formed in 1980 in Maldon, Essex by David Mountain to provide Mini race engines. In the late 1980s, Mountune started preparing Cosworth YB engines for numerous motorsport cham ...

. The 2017 season saw some changes, including

Ashley Sutton Ashley Sutton (born 15 January 1994) is a British racing driver, and three time British Touring Car Champion, who currently competes in the British Touring Car Championship with NAPA Racing UK. After winning the Renault Clio Cup UK in 2015, ...

joining the team from MG Racing. Sutton went on to win the

2017 British Touring Car Championship The 2017 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (commonly abbreviated as BTCC) was a motor racing championship for production-based touring cars held across England and Scotland. The championship featured a mix of professional motor racing ...

for the team. Jason Plato continued driving the Levorg, but struggled to find pace throughout the season. The 2018 season saw Team BMR switch from Mountune to Swindon as engine suppliers for the Levorg.

Second generation (VN; 2020)

Unveiled as a prototype at the 2019

on October 23, the second-generation model switched to the Subaru Global Platform, with a newly developed 1.8 L ''CB18'' engine. Like the previous generation, this model would not be sold in North America, but would go on sale in Japan in the second half of 2020. On August 21, 2020, the second-generation Levorg was released in Japan. According to Subaru engine designer Tsuneaki Numamiyauchi, the displacement of the ''CB18'' was chosen to balance an increase in maximum torque to with improved fuel economy from adopting lean-burn technology. Fuel economy improved from compared to the preceding generation's ''FB16'' engine. In addition, the overall length of the engine was shortened by , allowing for a larger

crush zone Crumple zones, crush zones, or crash zones are a structural safety feature used in vehicles, mainly in automobiles, to increase the time over which a change in velocity (and consequently momentum) occurs from the impact during a collision by ...

for safety. The second-generation Levorg is sold in Australia as the WRX Sportswagon and in New Zealand as the WRX GT ("Grand Touring"), leveraging the use of the WRX nameplate. For Australia and New Zealand, the Levorg is fitted with the larger ''FA24F'' 2.4-litre direct injection turbo engine. On November 25, Subaru announced the ''FA24F''-equipped Levorg also would be sold to the Japanese market as the STI Sport R model.

References

External links

* * (Japan) {{Subaru vehicles Levorg Cars introduced in 2014 2020s cars Mid-size cars Station wagons All-wheel-drive vehicles Cars powered by boxer engines Vehicles with CVT transmission Cars powered by longitudinal 4-cylinder engines