Rumormill: Subaru Impreza Hybrid coming in 2012?

This much we know: Subaru is ready to get into the hybrid marketplace. This much is a given following numerous rumors and reports that the Japanese automaker, which is currently tied at the hip to Toyota, wants to have its first hybridized vehicle on the market by 2012. Further, Subaru showed off its Hybrid Tourer concept at the Tokyo Motor Show late last year.

Here's what we don't know: What vehicle will Subaru use to introduce the world to its hybrid drivetrain? Initial speculation put the fuel-sipping technology into the larger Legacy platform, if for no other reason than the fact that the Legacy is Subaru's flagship sedan in the States. What's more, the aforementioned Hybrid Tourer concept wasn't exactly a little car.

Now, though, Road & Track is reporting that the next-gen Impreza, due quite fortuitously in 2012, will be Subie's first hybrid. We'd be shocked if Subaru's hybrid tech wasn't borrowed from Toyota, which is undoubtedly the world leader in hybrids, and it seems equally as likely that Subaru's favored flat-four Boxer motor would be featured. Besides that, we're in the dark.

[Source: Road & Track]