From the May 2023 Issue of Car and Driver.
The STI badge has been conspicuously absent from Subaru‘s lineup ever since the latest WRX hit the scene, but rest assured, this high-performance nameplate isn’t gone for good. Subaru says it’s working on some sort of electrified version of the top WRX, which could mean a hybrid or battery-electric powertrain. This likely won’t arrive until the current generation of the gas-powered WRX runs its course. That model may last until late in the decade, so we’re in for a long wait.
All of Subaru’s hybrid and EV efforts have so far been tied in with Toyota, as the Crosstrek plug-in hybrid used components from the Prius, and the Solterra electric SUV is a twin to Toyota’s bZ4X. We could see this collaboration continue to the next-gen WRX and WRX STI, as the Solterra’s platform, called e-Subaru Global Platform, was developed with Toyota.
It will need significant modifications to work for a high-performance car like a WRX STI, as we’d expect at least 400 horsepower from a dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup—around double what the most powerful Solterra offers. We also think the next WRX will stray even further from its Impreza roots, and we’d love to see the hatchback body style return. To differentiate the WRX STI’s all-wheel-drive system from other dual-motor EVs, Subaru will also likely come up with some special software, possibly with torque vectoring. And of course, the big question is whether loyalists will accept a WRX STI without the distinctive blat of a turbocharged flat-four.
Senior Editor
Despite being raised on a steady diet of base-model Hondas and Toyotas—or perhaps because of it—Joey Capparella nonetheless cultivated an obsession for the automotive industry throughout his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee. He found a way to write about cars for the school newspaper during his college years at Rice University, which eventually led him to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his first professional auto-writing gig at Automobile Magazine. He has been part of the Car and Driver team since 2016 and now lives in New York City.
