Subaru's New Global Platform Builds on Performance, Comfort, Safety

CARS.COM — Election season may be well underway, but Subaru is adopting an all-new platform with global implications. But this platform won’t dictate foreign policy or domestic security decisions. Subaru says its new Global Platform will bring into harmony all of the automaker’s vehicles and enhance performance, safety and design.

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Subaru announced the new platform today, outlining planned enhancements that will span the automaker’s lineup, improving stability, noise and vibration suppression, and comfort. Rigidity is said to increase by 70 percent to 100 percent versus exiting models, while suspension changes are expected to lower the center of gravity, increase steering response and improve road-gripping feel. The automaker also said the sturdier, more stable platform will better absorb road-surface irregularities and reduce body roll by half.

Lowering the center of gravity — by a reported 5 millimeters — also has safety implications, as improved stability also enhances danger-avoidance capabilities “on a level with a high-performance sports car,” according to the automaker. That’s in addition to significantly better crashworthiness, Subaru said.

“Thanks to a frame structure that enables more efficient energy absorption in the event of a collision and the enhanced body rigidity resulting from the increased use of high-tensile steel plates including materials formed by the hot press method, impact energy absorption is improved by 40 percent over present models,” the automaker said in a statement.

Subaru said the global platform also creates unity across the automaker’s lineup. This will not only enable flexibility for future redesigns, but also in adapting to hybrid, plug-in-electric, electric and other types of alternative power sources.

The Subaru Global Platform will debut on the next-generation Impreza sedan, set to launch later this year.