Subaru Swears: 'STI Isn't Dead'

Subaru says the iconic STI performance name isn't going anywhere.

Photo by: Subaru

Jeff Perez

By: Jeff Perez

Mar 3, at 3:00pm ET

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the breakdown

Subaru Australia General Manager Scott Lawrence says the company is still committed to STI.
Lawrence confirmed that there is still 'a lot of work happening' around STI.
Still, the company hasn't confirmed a new STI model for production.

There have been a lot of questions recently about Subaru’s beloved STI badge—mainly, when will we finally get a new one? Subaru has rolled out a handful of interesting concepts, but the company still hasn’t confirmed a new STI model for production.

Even without a new STI model on the horizon, though, STI remains an important part of Subaru’s identity. In a recent conversation with Australia's Drive, Subaru Australia General Manager Scott Lawrence made it clear that the performance brand isn't going anywhere:

'The tempo of news and activity out of STI publicly is picking up. It has the most vocal followers within the Subaru camp. As those concepts proved, there’s a lot of work happening in that space—STI isn’t dead.'

Subaru WRX STI Sport# Prototype

Subaru WRX STI Sport# Prototype

Photo by: Subaru

Subaru offered a glimpse of what could be its next performance car with the debut of the WRX STI Sport# Prototype (shown above) in Tokyo this past January. The concept previewed a modern STI sedan built on the latest WRX VB platform. Last October, the company also showed two STI concepts: the Performance-B and the Performance-E.

While the Performance-E presented a futuristic vision of what an electric STI performance car could look like, the Performance-B was more based in reality. Riding on the five-door Impreza platform, the Performance-B concept had a range of STI-specific performance upgrades—including, most importantly, a manual transmission.

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Subaru has already said that if enthusiasts want a new STI, they need to make their voices heard. Judging by the steady stream of recent concepts, there’s reason to believe that something could be brewing. Now it’s just a matter of whether—and when—one of these concepts finally makes it to production.

Subaru Performance-B STI Concept

Source: Subaru

Motor1's take: It’s reassuring to hear that STI isn’t going away. But until those three letters return to the back of a real performance car, fans will keep waiting—and wondering.

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