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Subaru debuts tougher-looking Outback for Australia [w/poll]

If you're going to name a car after a specific location or region, you'd better make sure it's taken seriously in the place it's named for. You're not likely to see a Chevrolet Monte Carlo in Monaco, and the Alfa Romeo Montreal was never even officially offered in North America, but the Subaru Outback is another story.
Subaru apparently takes the Australian market, whose wilderness its jacked-up Legacy wagon is named for, very seriously. So it is apparently rolling out a revised version of the current Outback in Australia itself. The updated Outback, which arrives less than a year before the all-new model is expected to bow, answers Aussie customer feedback with a more rugged look. It's got new roof rails, body cladding, wheel arches, mud flaps, underbody protection plates and blacked-out headlight surrounds and grille trim.
The Motor Report reports that the AUD $2,500 worth of extra equipment - around $2,300 USD - comes with just an AUD $500 ($468) price hike. As far as we can tell, though, there are no plans to bring this latest look to our shores - Subaru has already detailed North America's Outback for the 2014 model year, and these changes aren't mentioned. Should this look be offered in our market? Vote in the poll below and then have your say in Comments.

UK designer to make WRX Concept-aping body kit for production Subaru

Remember the Subaru WRX Concept shown at the 2013 New York Auto Show, the one almost everyone loved but no one expected Subaru to make? Indeed, that Parnassian "design statement" led to a production design that came from a good middle class neighborhood known for its office parks and pasture land. UK designer Michael Bond is offering to change that, the man behind the yet-to-be-produced Rumbler "Superhero Utility Vehicle" touting the Subaru WRX Concept 13, which would take a customer's new WRX and turn it into something pretty close to the original concept.
That means new front and rear clips, including a redesigned rear diffuser to increase downforce, but a spoiler can be installed if the buyer decides that what he wants. The car won't be an exact replica of the NYIAS concept since that would infringe on Subaru's intellectual property, but it isn't clear yet how the design would be altered. Bond's site says that once he gets 50 confirmed orders, his team will order a WRX and begin the process of creating the new bodywork. It is claimed that once work begins, it will be four to six months to "[present] a completed model for public view."
Bond says the price will come down depending on the number of orders beyond 50, but doesn't give any indication of how much those first 50 cars could cost. If you're keen, though, head over to the site and fill out the enquiry form. Who knows if the Concept 13 will happen, but so far this is the best chance you have of getting what could have been.

Subaru to stop building Camry for Toyota in the US

It was back in 2007 that Subaru of Indiana Automotive, under contract from Subaru minority shareholder Toyota, built the first Toyota Camry at its plant in Lafayette, Indiana. Rumblings of the end of that contract work have been around for a while, as Subaru talked of expanding capacity to build more units and add a line for the Impreza, and Toyota talked of moving Camry production to its Georgetown, KY plant. The news was official internally last November when SIA Executive Vice President Tom Easterday told the Louisville Courier-Journal that Camry production would end. Now, Automotive News reports that both automakers have admitted publicly that the end will come in 2016.
SIA currently has a 170,000-unit capacity devoted to the home-brand Legacy and Outback models, while a $400-million expansion increases that to 300,000 units to prepare the facility for Impreza production in two years. Freeing up the 100,000 units of production devoted to the Camry means a 400,000-unit capability, which is far more than Subaru needs at the moment, but the Toyota exit will allow it to expand any way it sees fit. Subaru has said it will absorb the workers on the Camry line and no jobs will be lost, the mayor of Lafayette saying the development could change the timetable for the expansion.