This Upcoming Subaru WRX STI Will Be A Tasty Forbidden Fruit

It was nearly two years ago when Subaru ruled out doing another WRX STI. The next best thing is the new TR but it's $4,000 more expensive than the last WRX STI sold in the United States. Not only that, but it lacks many goodies such as the clever diffs, big wing, or the extra power. However, in Japan, Subie does sell an STI-branded WRX from this generation.

Well, it's technically an STI Sport. Think of it as Subaru's equivalent of BMW’s M Performance models. It goes by the full name of WRX S4 STI Sport and is about to spawn a hotter version. Teased ahead of its world premiere at the Tokyo Auto Salon 2024, the high-performance sedan is touted as being an "STI complete car." The translation is a bit wonky, but we can deduct it means the car has a full arsenal of goodies from Subaru Tecnica International.

Fun fact – this is a sedan with a rear wiper. The adjacent photo gallery depicts the regular WRX S4 STI Sport while the teaser on top shows the new flavor with a trunk lid spoiler. We're also noticing new wheels featuring STI center caps. The beefy Subaru sedan appears to be sitting closer to the road courtesy of a stiffer suspension setup. It's technically labeled as a prototype but a production version is planned in limited numbers.

It's going to share the spotlight at TAS with another desirable car we're not getting in the states. It's a BRZ STI Sport decked out with extra STI parts, including a carbon rear spoiler. Even the wagon-based Levorg Layback is getting the STI treatment in Japan with an aerodynamic body kit. The regular Levorg – essentially a WRX wagon – is already available as an STI Sport model in the Land of the Rising Sun.

TAS 2024 is scheduled to take place between January 12-14 and Subaru intends to bring a few race cars as well: WRX NBR Challenge (2024 spec), BRZ GT300 (2023 spec), and Team SDA Engineering's BRZ CNF Concept modified to run on carbon-neutral fuel.