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Cosworth teases upgrades for Subaru BRZ

Subaru may or may not produce an STI version of the BRZ. Things seem to go back and forth on the subject. But Subaru Tecnica International isn't the only company with a history of tuning Subies. So does Cosworth, and now the British racing firm appears to be turning its attention to the BRZ and its Toyota- and Scion-badged siblings.
For those unacquainted, Cosworth is more than your average tuning company. It's a racing firm first and foremost, having made F1 engines under its own name as well as Ford's (chief among them the all-conquering DFV 3.0-liter V8 of 1960s and 70s fame), not to mention engines for Indy, rally and even high-performance, road-going versions of the Ford Sierra, Chevy Vega and Mercedes 190E. The list goes on and on, but you get the point.
Now withdrawing from Formula One, Cosworth is focusing its attention on tuning road cars again with the launch of the Cosworth Power Package line, the first of which will focus on the Toyota GT86 (aka Scion FR-S) and Subaru BRZ. We don't know just yet what will be included in the packaged dubbed FA-20, but from the video teaser below, it seems there'll be upgrades to the exhaust, suspension, aero and - if we're lucky - maybe a super- or turbocharger for the 2.0-liter flat-four engine. We'll have to wait and see, but we get the feeling that with Cosworth on the job, it'll be worth the wait. Check out the minute-long video below in the meantime.

2020 Subaru Legacy Luggage Test | Who needs an SUV?

As previewed in our recent 2020 Subaru Legacy review, the redesigned midsize sedan has a very large trunk. Whereas you have to creatively Tetris bags into the back of various pricier SUVs, you can pretty much just carelessly chuck them into the Legacy. How many bags? Well, let's take a look.  As a refresher, I use two midsize roller suitcases that would need to be checked in at the airport (26 inches long, 16 wide, 11 deep), two roll-aboard suitcases that just barely fit in the overhead (24L x 15W x 10D), and one smaller roll-aboard that fits easily (23L x 15W x 10D). I also include my wife's fancy overnight bag just to spruce things up a bit (21L x 12W x 12D).  The numbers say this is a 15.1-cubic-foot trunk. That's quite large, but besides the Mazda6, it's actually small for the segment. It has less than the 16.7-cubic-foot Honda Accord, 15.7-cubic-foot Chevy Malibu and 15.4-cubic-foot Nissan Altima. It's exactly the same as the Toyota Camry. However, such numbers don't tell the whole story as we discovered last week with the Lexus LC. The Camry may be the same on paper, but in practice, the Subaru is better. There, all the luggage fit with ease. Specifically, my four biggest bags were able to easily fit side-by-side in the trunk's aft-most portion between the wheels. That's the case in the Camry, which you can see below (test done during our midsize sedan comparison test). However, look at the difference in space between the bags and the trunk lip. The Subaru has more. Note how I could lay the smaller roller on its belly. No way that's happening in the Camry.  In fact, the Legacy trunk is more similar to the Honda Accord in this respect. The Accord, it seems, is bigger in the area just aft of its wheel wells. However, it also has "egg-crushers," trunk hinges that swing down into the trunk below. They technically free up space, but how useful is that space if what's filling it is going to be crushed? The Legacy puts its hinges in channels.  OK, back to the Legacy. Now let's fill it up using three duffle bags (any more, and I would've had to get creative raiding my garage).  So here you have it, the 15.1-cubic-foot 2020 Subaru Legacy trunk can hold five suitcases, one fancy bag and three duffles.

Subaru boosting US capacity thanks to strong sales

It is very, very good to be Subaru right now. The company is rolling, with its global operating profits increasing 21 percent last quarter. While part of that is due to favorable currency conditions, the simple fact is that Subaru is selling a hell of a lot of cars, particularly in North America. The company's North American branch is expected to hit its sales goal of 600,000 units per year five years ahead of schedule, after moving 570,000 units in the recently completed fiscal year (remember, the Japanese fiscal year runs from April 1 to March 31). Last quarter alone, Subaru NA saw a 12 percent increase in sales, significantly more than either the company's home market or the increasingly vital Chinese market, where sales declined by one and 14 percent, respectively. With such promising results, it's no surprise that Fuji Heavy Industries President Yasuyuki Yoshinaga announced plans to bump up production at the company's Indiana factory. Yoshinaga-san is pushing for annual capacity of 394,000 units by the end of calendar year 2016, Automotive News reports, adding that inventory levels in the US are too low. "If only we had more cars, we could be selling more," Yoshinaga told AN during a news conference. FHI's previous plans for the factory were much less aggressive. Originally, production would be expanded to 328,000 units by 2017, AN reports, with an eye towards a full 400,000 units per year by 2021. With 394,000 rolling out of the Lafayette, IN factory by next year, though, it's clear how keen Subaru is to take advantage of such strong demand. News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Dave Umberger / Associated Press Earnings/Financials Subaru sales fuji heavy industries