LA show: Subaru just months from Liberty reveal

SUBARU fans will only have to wait a few months to get a peek at the final production version of the sixth-generation 2015 Liberty and related Outback crossover.

Both family cars are expected to be revealed almost simultaneously by Subaru of America in about March or April next year ahead of a mid-year sales roll out there where the Liberty is known as the Legacy.

Prospective Australian buyers will have to wait until early 2015 before they can slap down the plastic on one of the new vehicles, which will be sourced from Japan for this country.

However, the American vehicles – to be made in Indiana – will look nearly identical to the Japanese variety, according to Subaru insiders at the Los Angeles motor show where a concept for the Legacy was revealed alongside the new WRX today.

The Legacy concept is said to be a good guide as to the general style of the production version, but there will be major changes to bring the concept into line for the real world.

The huge wheels and four-seat-sports interior are just two features that will be lost in translation from show car to road car, but just like the concept, the new car will have a strong new personality base on the concept's strong lines that Subaru says set the styling direction for the company's future models.

And like the concept, the new Liberty will also be bigger than the current model, taking it almost into the large car segment.

All-wheel drive will remain a standard feature, along with a horizontal boxer engine line-up.

One executive told GoAuto that it was yet to be decided if the new car would get a six-cylinder alternative, as the current car does.

The executive said it suited Subaru of America to launch Legacy and Outback simultaneously.

However, Subaru Australia public relations manager David Rowley said the two products would most likely have distinctly separate launches in Australia.

Although the Outback will share most of the Legacy/Liberty's underpinnings and powertrains, GoAuto is assured that the new Outback will have much greater differentiation in the new generation to give it more clear air.

This is critical if a new station wagon Liberty is planned, as the two vehicles share a close demographic.

Although the timing of the US reveal would be right for the New York motor show in April, that apparently is not on the cards, with another event in mind for the big roll out.