The next generation Subaru WRX is due to arrive in 2020, according to AutoCar, and will likely stray away from the model's historical combination of a flat-four gasoline engine with a symmetrical all-wheel-drive system.

It's no surprise to anyone that Subaru's VIZIV Performance Concept, which debuted at the Tokyo Motor Show, is a thinly veiled preview of the next WRX. Company design chief Mamoru Ishii told Autocar that feedback on the car's appearance has been quite positive, indicating that not much may change between the concept car and the next WRX. Then again, quite a bit changed between the 2013 WRX concept that people generally liked and the current WRX that debuted in 2015. Where the concept was smooth and sleek with coupe-like body lines, the actual car was rather different and criticized at first for too closely resembling a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, one of its closest competitors at the time.

Styling aside, the most controversial potential change in the WRX would be the move away from its traditional drivetrain. Though the standard model's FA20 engine offers good performance with excellent fuel economy (full disclosure: I own a 2015 WRX with this engine), the EJ25 of the WRX STI is an old design. Its 305-horsepower is below the competition and easily matched by a standard WRX with a downpipe and tune, while its 17 city/22 highway fuel economy is downright awful by modern standards. STI emissions, while they meet U.S. standards, are rather high by European standards, which is part of the reason Subaru dropped the STI in the U.K.