There are quite a few new versions of popular compact crossovers in the offing right now, and some of the less vaunted models are hoping to make big strides in this lucrative area of the market with some sharp new designs to tempt buyers away from the traditional big names.
Subaru has been playing with the idea of a pincer-shaped taillight design for some time now, but so far the concepts wearing them have never gone into production. That looks about to change now though as a teaser image of the 2019 Forester has been released ahead of the vehicle's official unveiling in New York next month.
It appears the new Forester is finally going with the kind of light design Subaru concepts have been wearing for a while now, but it's intriguing that the Japanese automaker has chosen to tease the rear of the new model and not the front.
There's a good chance the 2019 Forester will take a few other styling elements from the stunning VIZIV Future concept Subaru first revealed at the Tokyo Motor Show way back in 2015, which it's been updating and rehashing to some degree ever since. However, don't expect a full-blown production version of VIZIV because that's definitely not what we're going to be getting with the new Forester.
It's thought the new Forester will take more styling cues from the latest Subaru Ascent as that's more like what's been seen with camouflaged prototypes of the new Forester that have been spotted out on road tests.
The new model will be a little larger than the outgoing Forester, but the growth isn't likely to be too substantial. After migrating to Subaru's Global Platform that the new Forester will also use, the much smaller Impreza gained a little more cargo space, but not much extra for passengers.
No word has yet been given about what will be powering the new Forester, but it would make sense for it to adopt the 2.4-liter turbo that produces 260 horsepower in the Ascent as it's just a little more powerful than the Forester's current 2.0-liter.
The New York Auto Show, set to open March 30 after two press days March 28-9, will be the venue for the official unveiling, and the 2019 Forester will be arriving in showrooms later this year.
