Subaru’s STI performance sub-brand is dearly missed, having been missing from the lineup since the WRX STI was discontinued in 2021. But the hallowed three letters are set to return with not one, but two models set to push the boundaries of petrol and electric power, previewed by the Performance-B and Performance-E STI concepts respectively at the Japan Mobility Show (JMS).
Let’s start with the one that should arrive in production form the soonest – the Performance-B STI is a thinly-veiled look at the next WRX STI, based on the latest sixth-generation Impreza. Being that that car is now a hatch only, so too will the new STI – the first to be offered in that body style since the controversial GR generation was introduced in 2008.
Altogether more aggressive than the car it’s based on, the Performance-B has grown into a proper track refugee, sporting wide, vented fender flares that hide mean 18-inch BBS RI-A alloy wheels and Bridgestone Potenza RE71RS track tyres. The front end is entirely different, with WRX headlights, a large hexagonal grille and a sizeable splitter, along with a vented bonnet stamped with Subaru’s “Proud of Boxer” tagline.
Moving to the rear, the Impreza’s C-shaped taillights have been augmented by a towering goalpost-style rear wing and a massive diffuser housing the twin centre exhausts. Subaru has not provided any images of the car’s interior, but one can spot the carbon fibre-shelled Recaro Podium CF front seats and a manual gearlever through the windows.
No details have been released just yet, but Subaru has confirmed that, as is tradition for the company, the next WRX STI will feature a boxer engine and symmetrical all-wheel drive. Hopefully, this will turn out to be a more serious offering than the limited-run, Japan-only WRX STI S210, which retained the use of a CVT.
You might be wondering if Subaru has had a change of heart. When the latest WRX was introduced, we were told there would be no STI version of that car (it just didn’t make sense, it said), and that the next one would have to be either hybrid or electrically powered. Perhaps Subaru saw what we did – that companies like Porsche had to scramble to develop new petrol engines after the bottom fell out the performance EV market – and decided it was worth making a combustion-powered sports car after all.
Next up, the Performance-E STI – a battery electric vehicle that builds on 2022’s wild STI E-RA Concept. Taking a longer, almost wagon-like shape, it adopts a sharper, more angular design language that should inform the styling of Subarus to come.
The chiselled front end incorporates inverted L-shaped headlights and an array of slim air inlets carved into the shark nose. Along the side, the shoulder line leads the eye towards the broad rear fenders and slim taillights, while the sweeping roofline terminates at a rather tall tail section, topped further by a lip spoiler.
This being an STI, you’d expect a big wing, but you’ll instead find tiny winglets perched high up by a pair of large endplates. You do at least get the other usual hallmarks – WR Blue paint (matte here), cherry blossom STI logos and accents and “gold wheels” (really the aero fairings on the ginormous 22-inch rollers).
Given its production readiness, the Performance-B could well be offered within the coming year as the next WRX STI, while the Performance-E will likely be still a ways away from becoming reality. What do you think – are you excited for the future of STI? Let us know in the comments.
GALLERY: Subaru Performance-B STI at the 2025 Japan Mobility Show
GALLERY: Subaru Performance-E STI at the 2025 Japan Mobility Show
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The exterior design is great.
BUT please, STI or WRX ICE shouldn’t be pair with CVT. Torque converter automatic is still acceptable if Subaru can not provide a Dual Clutch Transmission.
We need A45 AMG, Golf R competitor. Civic TR, doesn’t provide the old and fragile people like us to have fun with DCT.
Shift stick won’t do us.