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WRC

This is the car Subaru hopes will return the company to the top of the World Rally Championship podium.

Subaru World Rally Team will debut the 2008 car at the Acropolis Rally starting 29 May.

Australian Chris Atkinson and Petter Solberg will enter the 2008 model year cars (pics below) .

Both drivers have struggled for outright pace in the old-model rally car, even though Atkinson has managed to somehow win enough points to sit third in the title chase.

The new car will display a new colour scheme prominently featuring the famous Subaru constellation logo.

But Subaru is not messing too much with history as the new model still runs the famous gold rims.

For the first time, the SWRT rally car will use a hatchback design.

It matches the new Impreza STi road car, which was developed as a hatch in order to give the rally team the best base to work-off.

The car features a longer wheelbase, with shorter front and rear overhangs than the previous model.

The rear wing is fitted to the tailgate of the new car, for optimum aerodynamic performance.

It is powered by a turbocharged 2.0 litre horizontally opposed four-cylinder boxer engine producing around 224kW of power.

The car is an in-house design by Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI), the maker of Subaru vehicles.

It has a lot to live up to given previous models have won the World Rally Manufacturers’ Championship in 1995, 1996 and 1997, and the Driver’s Championship in 1995, 2001 and 2003.