In Concept
October 29, 2025
Tim Stevens
These two STIs look eminently buildable, but nobody in Japan is giving any reason for hope.
By Tim Stevens
“This is just a concept,” were not the words I was hoping to hear when I finally managed to find a willing and English-speaking Subaru representative. The question was: “Is there any chance of these going into production?” I was standing in the scrum at the company’s booth at this year’s Japan Mobility Show, just after the sheets had been pulled from a pair of high-performance concepts, each proudly labeled with the letters STI.
One of those concepts is powered by batteries, and the other runs on good ol’ gasoline. These were rolled out to highlight an initiative that CEO Atsushi Osaki called a “spiral of smiles,” a sort of ouroboros of driving pleasure that creates more loyal consumers who buy more Subarus that give them more smiles… you get the picture.
“spiral of smiles”
The problem, of course, is that by all indications, neither of these cars is set to create any smiles for anyone beyond the designers and engineers who got to create them. That brief interview on the floor gave me no hope, nor did Subaru’s press release from the show. It contains exactly three sentences for each car, full of evocative sentiment yet completely absent of detail.
The Performance-E STI concept is the electric one, which utilizes “various innovative technologies” to deliver an “impressive driving experience.” After the thing’s unveiling, I pressed for more details — or any detail, really — and was given only one: It uses lithium-ion batteries. Hardly a shocker, there.
There was no confirmation available of whether it shares any technologies with Subaru’s current EV, the Solterra. I couldn’t even get a general sense of power output, motor count, or indeed range. I can tell you that it did have at least a partial interior, pointing to it potentially being more than just a styling exercise, and that its proportions were extremely generous. It’s more of a wagon than a hatchback.
The Performance-B STI is the gas-powered one. It looks more or less like what you’d expect if you did to the current Impreza hatch what Subaru used to do back in the GR STI days, from 2008 to 2014. The fenders have the same basic flare, though pushed to greater extremes, and the rear is capped off with a wing that looked more than a little inspired by the company’s former Global Rallycross hatchbacks.
Details are likewise scant here, no indication of which of Subaru’s engines is situated down under that hood scoop (2.0? 2.4? 2.5?), but the “PROUD OF BOXER” decal at least tells us the general shape of the thing. I can also confirm (by peeking through the window) that it has a six-speed manual, which is encouraging given the brand’s current reliance on CVTs.
Subaru lately has done a great job of pushing itself further into the overlanding and off-roading enthusiast spaces, with its sales climbing as a result. But, with such scant details and no indications that either of these will ever see production, it was hard to see Osaki-san’s promise of more smiles coming true for people like me who enjoy fast Subarus that drive all four wheels.
And that’s a shame, because Subaru clearly sees the importance of this kind of performance car. Osaki spoke of the joy of driving while standing in front of the Family Huckster, Subaru’s freaky 1983 GL wagon. But that’s the product of Subaru Motorsports USA’s long-standing partnership with Vermont Sportscar, here creating a one-off with a decidedly American flavor.
The Huckster is a machine that, at events all around the world, has generated an innumerable number of those smiles Osaki says his brand needs to succeed in the increasingly uncertain global marketplace. If the company wants these two new concepts to generate some genuine smiles of their own, and not yet more groans from the long-suffering STI faithful like myself, it’s going to have to finally pony up and build the damn things.
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