I mentioned this is every post about the new impreza.
Its not supposed to just be the STi. It was mentioned that everyone thought the hatchback was coming in 2007 when there was a "redesign" but we all knew that "redesign" was only the STi limited that was targeted at more upper crust customers like M3/S4 canidates.
Subaru has yet to release a concept picture, so everything is a chop. A bunch of magazines have chops and the latest one I saw looked like a evo front end and a hatchback - but supposedly the magazine is usually very close to what the actual car looks like.
Subaru wants a hatchback, supposedly from the expert rally'ers, so that it can compete well on the tarmac events and beat the other hatches.
I'm not necessarily a fan of a hatchback but if its lighter and performs better I'm all for it. ...and I don't see it being much cheaper than the sedan. I mean the STi is one of the best bang for the buck cars you can get now, and with the 2.5L block in the standard WRX now, thats huge bang for your buck under 25k OTD. If they go lower, they're just going to be pricing themselves out. The TR was their attempt at going lower.