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Subaru Crosstrek Baja Racer is a glorious blue and gold liveried masterpiece

Subaru just revealed its new Baja racer, and it's the coolest one yet. The Crosstrek Desert Racer is now sporting Subaru's traditional blue and gold livery that we all know and love from the many years it was plastered on Impreza-based rally cars. It's hard not to be nostalgic on this one, and we just had to share it. This Crosstrek, which bears about zero resemblance to an actual Crosstrek, is being run in the grueling Baja 500 off-road race through the Baja California Peninsula. Crawford Performance and Grabowski Brothers Racing are running the show, hoping to improve on their second-place finish from last year. The vehicle has a 2.5-liter naturally aspirated flat-four engine built to produce 300 horsepower. It's great to see Subaru continue to expand the blue and gold livery theme to more motorsports efforts. At the 2019 Detroit Auto Show we got to see the same livery on an STI rally car destined for competition. Now this beast of a Baja racer looks ready to strike fear into the hearts of its opponents just the same. The vehicle itself is rather insect-like in nature with the suspension and lights sticking out everywhere. There's still no word on whether the team will try for the big Baja 1000, or just stick to the 500 for 2019. Regardless, it looks supremely capable, and must be an absolute hoot to drive.

2018 Crosstrek propels Subaru to best-ever April sales

April was a dismal month for most automakers, with sales declines that ranged from 4.7 percent for Ford to a whopping 28 percent for Nissan. So here comes mighty little Subaru, which claimed the month as the best April in its history. The gain is entirely attributable to the Crosstrek, which is all-new for 2018. Sales of the compact, raised crossover climbed almost 70 percent for the month to 12,266. Year to date, Subaru has sold 45,728 Crosstreks, an increase of 66.6 percent. That helped push Subaru's total U.S. sales to 53,170 in April and 202,873 for the first four months of 2018, increases of 1.5 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively. It also marks 77 consecutive months of yearly month-over-month growth for Subaru. All other models saw declining sales for April, led by the Impreza, which was down 27.4 percent. "Our customers' interest in the Crosstrek continues to increase every month," Jeff Walters, senior vice president of sales, said in a statement. "We're now looking forward to the start of production later this month of the all-new Subaru Ascent at our plant in Indiana." The 2018 version of the Crosstrek went on sale last August featuring a new 2.0-liter flat-four engine, stiff new chassis, more ground clearance and the EyeSight suite of safety technologies, among other changes. But the Crosstrek has been on a hot streak for a few years now, with sales up 15.1 percent in 2017 and 6.7 percent in 2016. The Crosstrek is Subaru's third top-selling model behind the Forester and Outback. Subaru spokesman Dominick Infante says the company did not see the sales trail-off last year that's typical of a vehicle at the end of its lifecycle with the Crosstrek. "It was essentially a straight line going up, and it was limited by production," he said. The difference, he said, is that Subaru is now able to make more of them. The company last year shifted production of the Impreza to its plant in Lafayette, Ind., to free up capacity to build more Crosstreks at its plant in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, which underwent a major retooling. The Indiana plant now builds the Impreza, Legacy and Outback after the expiration of a contract in 2016 with Toyota to build 100,000 Camry sedans annually. Production of the new three-row Ascent crossover will start in Indiana in May, following a $140 million expansion at the plant, according to Automotive News. The vehicle is due in showrooms in June, Infante said, with sales of 60,000 expected in the first year.

2018 Subaru Crosstrek improves on an already winning formula

There's a brand-new Subaru Crosstrek on the way for 2018, and the European version, known as the XV, is making its debut at the Geneva Motor Show. There's every reason to expect the new Crosstrek to be a stunning sales success. In 2016, Subaru sold 95,677 Crosstreks in the United States, easily besting models like the WRX, Legacy, and the Impreza upon which it's based. Those sales represented a 7.6 percent gain over the previous year, which is especially impressive considering that the Crosstrek is very much starting to show its age. The mini-crossover inherits all the benefits of the latest Impreza, including a stiff new chassis that promises drastically improved driving dynamics. Following in the footsteps of the larger Outback, which is based on the midsize Legacy, the Crosstrek adds a bit more ground clearance and aggressive off-road-lite styling to the compact Impreza hatchback. Don't expect the Crosstrek to tackle the Rubicon Trail – Subaru says it will have "excellent rough-road capability" – but do expect it to sell in droves in areas that get significant amounts of snow. View 15 Photos A 2.0-liter four-cylinder boxer engine delivers 154 horsepower to all four wheels through a continuously variable transmission. We generally prefer traditional stepped-gear transmissions, but Subaru has a history of keeping its CVTs pretty well behaved. Seven pre-programmed gear ratios can be selected by the driver in manual mode. A quick 13:1 steering ratio, active torque vectoring technology, and a lower center of gravity will all deliver dividends on the road, and 8.6 inches of ground clearance mean hard parts won't scrape the ground when the paved roads come to an end. All new Crosstrek models will come standard with EyeSight, a safety system that includes pre-collision braking control, adaptive cruise, and lane-keeping assistance. Blind-spot detection, lane-change assistance and reversing assistance will also be available. Expect more information to filter out soon, and stay tuned for live photos when we hit the show floor in Geneva. The US-spec Crosstrek will make its debut in April at the 2017 New York Auto Show. Related Video: