2018 Subaru Crosstrek moves to new global platform

Twenty years ago, Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) engineers first leveraged the subcompact Subaru Impreza platform to create the popular Forester CUV. They again used Impreza to create the 2012 Crosstrek, which became the brand's third-best-selling model in the U.S. and number two in sales among B-segment CUVs. Now comes a much-improved, second-generation 2018 Crosstrek; company engineers claim it's 95% new.

It's underpinned by the all-new and substantially stiffer Subaru Global Platform (SGP), which brings improved ride, handling and NVH attenuation, as Automotive Engineering determined during the recent media launch. Crosstrek is the second Subaru underpinned by the new SGP, following the 2017 Impreza. Eventually all new models-from the 2019 Ascent three-row CUV to new WRX, Forester, Legacy and Outback models-will use this architecture.