For many die-hard Subie fans, the news that the new-gen WRX wouldn’t be getting a top-tier STI variant was a punch in the guts. Since its debut in 1988 as Subaru’s motorsport arm, Subaru Tecnica International, or STI, became Subaru shorthand for high-performance, and up until now every generation of Impreza WRX (and later, just “WRX”) featured a hard-charging STI flagship at the top of the tree.
But that’s gone. Subaru reportedly can’t make the STI formula work in the new era of emissions regulation, at least not for the WRX, but does that mean the brand is dead? Mitsubishi’s Ralliart arm went down a similar path years ago when the Lancer Evolution was discontinued, but new developments show that Mitsubishi is primed for a Ralliart resurgence – is STI perhaps in store for a similar reinvention?
The story with Ralliart
Like STI, Ralliart was Mitsubishi’s in-house motorsport sub-brand. Building off-road racers based on the Pajero and Lancer for the Paris-Dakar and World Rally Championship, Ralliart’s expertise in making ordinary Mitsubishis go faster gifted that brand some serious credibility among the enthusiast crowd – which promptly evaporated when the tenth-generation Lancer Evolution ceased production in 2015 with no replacement in the pipeline.
The Ralliart brand was quietly retired at the same time.
Originally, plans were to take the beloved Evo down an electrified path for its eleventh generation, and Mitsubishi had experimented with an all-electric Evolution X prototype, However, other priorities would take Mitsubishi away from those plans – profitability was suffering and resources were directed toward higher-volume SUV models, while an emissions scandal and acquisition by the Renault/Nissan Alliance also took focus away from performance.
But now, Mitsubishi is talking about Ralliart once more. The Outlander-based Vision Ralliart concept was revealed in January, and while it’s no Evo it does harken back to the dune-hopping Pajeros that made Mitsubishi a household name in the Paris-Dakar era.
Flared fenders, fat tyres, a rear diffuser and aggressive stance give the concept a racy look, and Mitsubishi says the Outlander PHEV-based concept features additional power from its dual electric motors, torque vectoring, and a larger battery to handle more energy throughput. Is Mitsubishi cooking up a mainstream rival to the BMW X3 M40i? It certainly looks like it, and with the popularity of SUVs it’s a commercially savvy move to reintroduce the Ralliart name with the Outlander first.
A more production-oriented follow-on to the Vision Ralliart is expected to surface later this year, but the mere fact that Mitsubishi is simply talking about Ralliart once more is an encouraging sign already.
So what about STI?
The main reason we’re not going to see a new-gen WRX STI comes down to its engine – or rather lack thereof. Since the first WRX STI debuted in 1994, that model has always been powered by the same engine: Subaru’s venerable EJ20 or EJ25 turbocharged flat-four. The EJ engine family was designed in the 1980s, and in the 2020s it is truly an anachronism – horrifically out of date.
Power isn’t the EJ’s problem, but rather emissions. Meanwhile, juicing up the current WRX’s more modern FA24 engine to STI-appropriate levels is considered too difficult. The obvious answer is some form of electrification to add power without adding emissions, but a solution there isn’t yet apparent.
Subaru says its working on it, but that “in the meantime, a next generation internal combustion engine WRX STI will not be produced based upon the new WRX platform”. Whether that means the next WRX STI will be fully electric or simply electrified in some fashion is open to interpretation.
The STI brand isn’t going away though, and Subaru has also said that it wants to incorporate “the essence of STI into our next generation of vehicles”. Could Subaru be cooking up a Forester STI (something it’s actually done in the past) to do battle with Mitsubishi’s rumoured Outlander Ralliart? Or how about an XV STI, with that car’s jacked-up suspension being matched with turbo power and a gravel-gobbling tyre package for some fast off-road fun?
The potential is certainly there, and while the STIs of the future might not look like a small sedan with a bonnet scoop and a big wing, that doesn’t mean there will be a lack of excitement. Watch this space.
Keyword: STI vs Ralliart: Mitsubishi and Subaru's performance arms aren't dead, and here's how they could get reinvented