Subaru's STI Plans Ditch Gas Engines Altogether

Any future STI-badged Subaru will likely be electric, says the brand's manager for Europe.

Subaru STI Performance Concept

Brian Silvestro

By: Brian Silvestro

Apr 17, 2025 at 1:30pm ET

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Subaru killed the WRX STI in 2022, reportedly due to fast-shifting emissions regulations. Despite the company saying it wouldn't produce an STI-badged car based on the current-generation WRX, the car returned this year, albeit with a CVT, and only in Japan. There's still hope for the STI's return for the rest of the world, though you might not like the powertrain Subaru chooses.

"If you ask me to sum up what Subaru means for customers in Europe right now, it’s three letters: SFT—safe, fun, and tough," David Dello Stritto, the brand's manager for Europe, told Auto Express at the New York Auto Show. "Customers in Europe are staying loyal to Subarus for their safety level, for the practicality of them, and they tend to keep them for a long time."

"But there’s a fourth pillar I’ve been missing to sell and market cars in Europe for the last 10 years, and that’s P, for power and performance," Stritto added. "Ask the average person what Subaru means, and they’ll say Impreza or STI. You can’t disassociate this from Subaru, so we need to bring sportiness back to Subaru."

Such a model wouldn't have the car's iconic boxer-four engine, Stritto notes, as Europe's now-mandatory gas particulate filters "can literally choke your engine."

The Future of STI Is Electric

Subaru STI E-RA Concept

The Subaru STI E-RA Concept, revealed in 2022

Any vehicle that sits at the top of Subaru's performance envelope will be fully electric. The company teased this idea in the past, showing off a Solterra STI concept and a racey EV called the STI E-RA at the 2022 Tokyo Auto Salon.

Stritto says "it’s not decided yet" whether such a car would carry the STI nameplate. Subaru filed a trademark for "STe" in Germany in 2023, hinting at the possibility its iconic performance sub-brand could evolve to highlight an electric powertrain.

Nevertheless, Stritto believes in the product, telling Auto Express, "the STI spirit lives on anyway, so if you change the last letter, I don’t think that would make a huge difference."

2026 Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid Headlight

Photo by: Subaru

But before Subaru commits to a real performance car, it has to stabilize its main line of business: crossovers. The company is facing a daunting future in the US due to tariffs implemented by the Trump administration on April 2. More than half of its vehicles sold in America are assembled overseas.

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"I need volume first," Stritto says. "I need to sell my SUVs. They need to make money."

"We all need to get back on track," he adds. "It’s a very difficult moment, but once things get settled, we can afford the luxury of looking for that new halo model and please that very important subset of our customers."