Recently, subaru North America account suddenly released a press release, probably because of the current automotive market environment, as well as environmental regulations and other requirements, Subaru will not continue to develop Subaru WRX STI based on the new WRX.
This news basically means that the current generation of Subaru WRX STI, which is still on sale, may be the last generation of WRX STI. As a subaru fan, this news really saddens me.
As a spiritual totem under Subaru, WRX STI has gone through nearly 30 years of spring and autumn, and has developed 11 generations in the eyes of fans, and together with Mitsubishi EVO, it has achieved the myth of rally racing and satisfied the faith of a large number of fans.
Looking back at the birth of the WRX STI, it is actually a coincidence. At that time, due to the poor performance of the rally car based on Lishi, Subaru desperately needed a smaller car. And because the WRC stipulates that rally cars need to produce enough civilian versions to compete, the legend that belongs to Subaru has begun.
Strictly speaking, the WRX STI is divided into four generations, the 1-6 generations in the mouth of the fans, codenamed GC, which is also the era of The heyday of Japanese performance cars in the 90s, and also carries the memories of many head-letter D fans for Takumi's father's GC. The 22B is a legendary version that fans talk about.
In 2000, with the last glory of the Japanese performance car, the 7th generation Impreza WRX STI code-named GD was introduced. The shape of the round lamp changed before the sharpness, although many people can not accept, but still become a classic, upgraded engine and better body rigidity, its strength has increased greatly, but the ensuing weight, so that GD's body is no longer slim.
Round lights, tear eyes, eagle eyes, but also let the GD version witness the gradual decline of Japanese performance cars, the opponents in the same period one after another stopped production, the glory of the Japanese system gradually dissipated, but the good news is that the Impreza WRX STI and the old rival Mitsubishi EVO have successfully "survived", and have launched their respective tenth-generation models.
This is also the first time that Subaru launched a hatchback version of the STI, and it is also the masterpiece of the Mitsubishi EVO, and soon, in 2014, the Impreza officially broke away from the WRX car series and completely degenerated into a family car, the WRX became a standalone car series, and the STI was launched as a high-performance version, launching the 11th generation model. The Mitsubishi EVO ended in the 10th generation and left the stage of history.
In view of the fact that Mitsubishi basically abandoned the automobile business and caused no successor to EVO, the future of subaru WRX STI is still relatively bright, after all, Subaru still has a pulling heart, but without the former rival, Subaru WRX STI can only continue to move forward alone.
In fact, this kind of lone fight will come to an end sooner or later, I have to say that the Japanese performance car has already declined, and today's German cars are really fast and really good, even if there is now a rise against the trend of Toyota GR, but the brilliant era is indeed gone.
In addition, the offensive of new energy is becoming more and more fierce, Japanese car companies are busy resisting and rushing to electrification transformation, and the relatively niche sports car market has become no longer important.
And now that Subaru is fully integrated into Toyota's battle sequence, electrification is already a shift in Subaru's current priorities. Toyota only needs to hold high the GR's sports flag, as for this four-wheel drive steel gun from Hokkaido, it has no value, and it can only end with the times.
However, Subaru did not put the words to death, they announced that in the future, they may consider introducing a purely electrified STI model. That is to say, subaru's former glory is likely to come to the world with a new face like the Mustang MACH-E.
It's just that the car is probably no longer the soul full of memories and feelings behind it.