Apparently this is tied to the recent announcement of increased CAFE standards in the U.S. and that the way to reach an average 35MPG by 2016 should incentivise car makers to bring in the higher efficiency vehicles already available outside the U.S. But in this case Suburu has been working a long time on adapting Toyota's drive train w/o result.
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/05/21/report-subaru-may-bring-gasoline-hybrid-to-the-u-s-in-2012/
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a4MxWf.dcDrk
On http://www.hybridcars.com/concept-hybrids/subaru-b5-tph.html they're picturing the same car, labeling it as a concept car.
More on Suburu's website from 2006 .. http://www.drive.subaru.com/Win06_HEV.htm .. uh, what's a "lithium ion capacitor" ??
Another article from 2006 .. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/01/subaru_introduc.html .. again labeling it a concept car.
The Li-ion capacitor’s negative electrode uses newly developed Li-ion occlusive carbon material, while its electrolyte is also made of Li-ion. Pre-doping enables occlusion of a large amount of Li-ion on the negative electrode, boosting its capacity and increasing the electrical potential difference. This in turn enables high voltage without deterioration in positive electrode performance.
Here's a petition for a Suburu plug-in hybrid: http://www.petitiononline.com/subarupi/petition.html
