I have a feeling Subaru is trolling us. The second production of the WRX STI ended in 2021, people immediately started clamoring for the vehicle’s return, but it’s been radio silence from the Japanese automaker for four long years… until now. Subaru just revealed two incredibly sick concepts: the Performance-E STI and the Performance-B STI at the Japan Mobility Show, and despite the fact that I know in my heart and soul it can build them, it affirmed to journalists in attendance that both vehicles were just concept cars.
What we’ve got here are two concept cars. One gas. One electric. Both STIs. Both sick as hell. We don’t know too much about either car — how much power they put out, what sort of motors are powering them and why Subaru decided to blue-ball us in the first place are all mysteries to me and everyone else in attendance. What we do know is that Subaru wanted to flex its performance muscles a bit. Perhaps it is a sign of things to come. We can only hope.
Electric hoonage
The more radical of the two concepts is clearly the Performance-E STI. I mean, hell, it doesn’t even have an interior. Well, Subaru says it’s “spacious” and “driver-friendly,” but I can’t see it, so who the hell really knows?
Other than the fact it’s blue, the only things we really know about this car are that it’s all-electric and it’s all-wheel-drive. That means it’ll have at least two electric motors, but it could have three or four, depending on how wacky Subie is feeling. The closest we get to any sort of technical talk from Subaru is a line in its press release saying it’ll incorporate “various innovative technologies.” Great work, guys.
Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik
There’s a lot to talk about on the outside, at least. It’s a bit more wagon-y than your run-of-the-mill Subaru hatchback, which is probably where the whole “spacious” interior thing comes in, and it’s fitted with a hell of a lot of aero. There’s a massive wing and diffuser that’ll surely let everyone know what sort of person is driving this car. It also has plenty of STI pink touches. Oh, I don’t know about you, but I think the wheels are fabulous. I know they’re not for everyone, but they’re for me.
Up front, you won’t find a grille, but you will find a massive lower air dam and splitter that frames the swept-back headlights and hood. While it doesn’t have the hood scoop you’d usually find on an STI, it does have air ducts to channel air out of that part of the car.
Overall, it’s not going to win any beauty pageants, but what STI ever did? There’s a lot to like about where Subaru is headed with the electric STI if it ever gets around to actually building one.
Build this, dammit
Subaru, I like you a lot. I like your cars. I like the whole dog thing. I like the rally stuff and whatever, but I swear to Christ I will make January 6 look like a tour group if you do not put the Performance-B STI into production. At the very least, make a WRX hatchback again. I yearn for that. It would actually fix me.
Anyway, this is all to say the Performance-B STI looks nearly production-ready. Sure, there are some parts that are probably a bit too extreme for mass production, like some of the crazier aero bits, but the rest of it could start rolling out of the factory tomorrow if you put your mind to it. What we’ve got here is a real STI, based on an Impreza hatchback. I know. I could cry.In a world of Golf Rs, GR Corollas and Civic Type Rs, Subaru must know it’s missing out by not making a competitor.
Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik
Right now, there’s no word on a powertrain, but I’d assume it makes a damn slight more power than the 271 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque the turbocharged 2.4-liter boxer-four in the current WRX makes. Of course, it’s fitted with Subaru’s legendary all-wheel-drive system, because now STI would be complete without it, and this concept even has a six-speed manual transmission to boot. Oh, baby.
On the inside, it’s typical Subaru. From what I saw, not much changed between this car and the regular WRX, and the same can be said for the exterior. Sure, there’s no WRX hatchback at the moment, but if you were to envision what that would look like, this isn’t that far a jump.
Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik
In any case, I think enough time has passed. Subaru, you need to put both of these cars into production. At the very least, tell me you’re considering it. I need that bit of hope in my life.
