First official look: Subaru uncovers Aussie Rex

IT MAY take a Subaru-spotter to pin-point the differences but here, in all its glory, is Australia's next-generation Impreza WRX.

Revealed this morning ahead of its official media launch on August 30-31 and its local release in September, the all-new version of Japan's cult-hero hot-hatch has emerged in final Australian specification for the first time.

We saw the US Impreza debut at the New York motor show in April, following the embarrassing leaking of brochure images a week prior.

Now, Subaru Oz has issued the first official image of the model that goes on sale here in exactly a month - but the only changes we can identify are a new, cross-hatched (instead of mesh) grille with a centrally-mounted (not high-mounted) Subaru badge.

Either way, Subaru Oz has confirmed the turbocharged WRX will go on sale simultaneously alongside normally-aspirated Impreza variants.

As previously reported, the all-new Impreza, which will continue to be an all-wheel-drive-only model in Australia, will be available only as a five-door hatchback. It's believed a replacement for the current Impreza sedan is at least 12 months away.

Australia's WRX is expected to deliver somewhere between the 169kW and 320Nm outputs delivered by the current model's 2.5-litre turbo boxer, and the 184kW and 333Nm produced by the 2.0-litre turbo variant that powers Japan's new Impreza S-GT "grand touring" model.

The new Impreza is already on sale in Japan, where two other flat four-cylinder engines are available: an 81kW 1.5 and a 103kW 2.0. Our garden-variety Impreza will be powered by the latter.

Subaru's Impreza hatch flagship, the STi, will make its global debut at the Tokyo motor show in October and is due on sale here around February.