A New Subaru WRX STI Could Really Be Happening

It’s become a bit of a running theme here at CT to write about Subarus being revealed that aren’t WRX STIs. There was the WRX Club Spec with a big wing and no extra power, the WRX tS with STI suspension but no extra power, and then the WRX S210 STI, which actually used the name but also a CVT and the same power as the 2001 S201.

Could this be the one we’ve been waiting for at last, though?

According to several reports in Japan, during the 24 Hours of Fuji at the weekend, Subaru’s chief technical officer and executive managing director, Tetsuro Fujinuki, confirmed a new high-performance Subaru was in the works.

That was accompanied by the blurry teaser photo you’ll find embedded, and it’s very much piqued our curiosity.

There’s certainly a more aggressive front end compared with a regular WRX STI, plus several vents are noticeable on the bonnet. Those wheel arches are looking pretty blistered, and – we may be wishing this one into existence – what looks like a bit of a rear wing. Curiously, it appears this is a hatchback, too. Could this really be a Levorg-based WRX STI?

As reported by Japanese outlet Car Watch, Subaru will be revealing this car at the Japan Mobility Show taking place in October, so we’ll have some time to wait before we know for sure what we’re looking at here.

Fujinuki is also quoted as saying that it’ll make use of “current technological assets”, which leads us to believe it’ll be an evolution of a WRX rather than using some kind of trick new platform or hybrid powertrain. Hopefully a manual gearbox falls under that banner, rather than the WRX’s CVT.

We’ll be keeping an eye out for this one, then. Not that we’ll be likely to get whatever road car this leads to in the UK…