Masaru Katsurada, Vice President—Product Planning and Chief Engineer for the Legacy. Katsurada believes in Subaru's "treasure," the combination of its opposed cylinder engine and sophisticated all-wheel-drive system, which will take his company through the new millennium.

Katsurada is the chief engineer for the latest Legacy series of station wagon and sedan. When it comes to the Legacy, he displays no oriental modesty, and states outright that his car is the best. His team members call the new car the "Katsurada Legacy." Such confidence and personalization is seldom seen in Japan.

What makes the Legacy so special? The opposed four-cylinder engine and advanced all-wheel-drive system (there are variations of the drive), which, according to Katsurada, makes the car one of most dynamic, sure-footed, and safe vehicles in the world. The new Legacy is on a new platform with new rear suspension, new wagon and sedan bodies, and improved powertrain. The preceding Legacy's platform was used for two generations, during which it gave two more Subaru cars, the Impreza and the Forester light SUV, indeed a rich legacy from the original model.

Katsurada cites the light alloy flat-four's attributes, "Light weight, low center of gravity, and longitudinal location with a short overhang, which make it an ideal powertrain for the all-wheel-drive configuration." These are the winning combinations, said Katsurada, and the new Legacy is offered only in this configuration anywhere in the world. In the U.S. where it is manufactured at the Subaru-Isuzu joint venture plant, the Legacy has a wider body, as it does not have to fit within Japan's small car dimensions.

Katsurada praises Subaru's American team for coming up with the "Outback" concept. "They took the Legacy wagon, raised its ground clearance, fitted larger wheels, and wider tires, put on some hefty cladding, and added a two-tone paint scheme. Pronto, we have a new category of vehicle, a cross-over car-SUV. It is only in America where such an brilliant innovation is born!" The Outback has been nicely filling Subaru's coffers in North America, as does the new generation Legacy.