Horizontally opposed engine has a plenty of advantages. For example, the compactness of this kind of engine allows to lower the center of gravity. It's rather good that the first Subaru diesel engine will possess all the advantages of such engines. Subaru will sell diesel models at Europe and, probably, in the US.
Hiroyuki Ikeda, the head of Subaru Europe, during the Paris motor show announced that the H4 turbo-diesel boxer's development is almost over. The construction that you can see in the picture has two interesting details. First, the turbo that is usually placed at the passenger's site now is removed downwards to preserve the low center of gravity. Second, a new diesel DOHC will be equipped with a timing chain instead of timing belt. At the moment, only H6 engines are equipped with this system and that means that it will be the first H4 chain engine.
By all appearances, the first car with this kind of engine will be Subaru Forester.