Subaru’s STI revival one step closer
Executives are tight-lipped, but it seems Subaru’s performance STI division is on the verge of a comeback.
In March 2022, Subaru did the almost unthinkable by announcing it was putting its long-running Subaru Technica International – better known as STI – department on hiatus, at least for the WRX lineup.
After making its debut 1994 on the GC8 Impreza WRX, the STI name denoted the fastest versions of the WRX, Liberty/Legacy and Forester for almost three decades, though its 2022 pivot included a plan to instead focus on electrified products.
However, having only launched three EVs globally in the time since with none of them providing a performance focus, rumblings of an STI revival have circulated in recent times, with fuel added to the fire in the past 12 months.
At last year’s Tokyo Motor Show, Subaru revealed the ‘Performance-B STI Concept’, a WRX STI hatchback by any other name, though it has so far only influenced the WRX STI HiPerfX2, which is the brand’s new challenger in the Super Taikyu Series.
Last week, Subaru teased three new manual-equipped models, one of which is a production version of the Performance-B STI concept, said to have a “personality that is different from the WRX and BRZ”.
Speaking to Australian media at the launch of the Trailseeker electric SUV, Blair Read, managing director of Subaru’s Australian importer Inchcape Australasia, said to “keep watching this space” when it comes to an STI revival.
Jordan Mulach
“We can’t comment on that today,” said Read, who was most recently Subaru Australia’s managing director.
“Just keep watching this space. You would have seen a lot of global activity in the past few weeks, that’s all we can share at this point in time.”
“What has been published is what we can share today.
“Subaru is synonymous with performance. It’s what the Subaru community is passionate about. That performance DNA runs through the veins of everyone that’s involved with Subaru.
“Expect to see more.”
In addition to the potential launch of a WRX STI hatchback, Subaru’s Japanese division says it’ll treat the WRX sedan to the stronger six-speed manual gearbox which was fitted to the previous-generation WRX STI.
It’s also set to turn the BRZ STI Sport Type RA, previously limited to just 300 examples in Japan only, into a series production variant.
