Subaru officially CANCELS the new WRX STI

Subaru dropped the shocking news today that there will not be a gas-powered next-generation version of the WRX STI. In this video I talk about why this is so unexpected, what this means going forward and what the future may hold for STI. What do you think about this news?

What’s up everybody matt moran here for a breaking news story i never do these types of videos i just posted a weekly update a few hours ago but subaru dropped the bombshell news here late this friday afternoon um that the subaru wrx will not be getting an sti version for this generation at all and um there’s a lot of weirdness around this and i have a lot of

Questions it’s a totally blindsided me and basically every other enthusiast for several reasons um so first i’m just going to read the statement because it’s pretty short here as far as why subaru says they’re canceling the sti and then we’ll kind of dissect this a little bit so they sent this letter out to retailers and also they posted on their media sites so

This is 100 legit by the way um they said as the automotive marketplace continues to move towards electrification subaru is focused on how our future sports and performance cars should evolve to meet the needs of the changing marketplace and the regulations and requirements for greenhouse gases zero emissions vehicles and corporate average fuel economy as part of

That effort super corporation is exploring opportunities for the next generation subaru wrx sti including electrification in the meantime a next generation internal combustion engine wrx sti will not be produced based upon the new wrx platform the subaru wrx sti and sti brand represent the zenith of subaru’s performance vehicles exemplifying subaru’s unique dna and

Rally heritage as we look to the future we also look forward to incorporating the essence of sti into our next generation of vehicles so um you know it doesn’t mean there will never be another sti again but it means that we will not have one for this generation of the directx which just came out here it’s just hitting you know dealerships now and we know it takes

About seven years to come out with a new wrx uh and therefore a new sti so um that means that basically you know i’m assuming if we do see some type of electric sti it will not be here until 2029 or 2030. so i mean it’s gonna leave an enormous gap of no performance vehicle above the wrx and um it’s kind of crazy and so i’m kind of shocked about this especially

There’s a couple of different reasons first there was a leaked timeline which um had been turned out to be pretty accurate uh that was leaked a couple of years back showing when the new brz was going to come when the new dwx is going to come and a bunch of other stuff as well as the new sti which it said was going to come about a year after the debra x so i was

Fully expecting a debut at the end of this year um and you know it’s also kind of surprising because i can even say that i was on the subaru wrx you know media launch event um and the uh sti you know got brought up one of the other journalists asked a question about like so what about the sti and um one of the super executives said we’re not going to talk about

About big brother today um you know with a smile on his face like it’s coming you know just stay tuned the typical kind of like get excited so i it’s not like this is something that was always planned and the fact that they’re putting out this press release late on a friday afternoon not when press releases usually get put out um and the end of a friday it’s like

You know they’re trying to almost bury the news in a way and you know hope that people miss it or something it’s kind of strange it’s a very short uh usually pr you know press releases are way longer and you know just a little bit more um i guess developed than this one and so um i actually did have someone else a fan that emailed me that was on the call um with

The dealers and um said basically no one made a sound after they dropped that news um so you know i don’t know if maybe they just put this out publicly because they knew it because it’s going to get leaked immediately because it’s such huge news or what but you know it just doesn’t make sense if the subaru’s executives were hinting that they’re anticipating it

You know at this point you know based on the way vehicles are developed i mean a wrx sti has got to be close to being production ready at this point um you know so there’s a new wrx sti out there they’re just choosing not to sell it and killing it off for whatever reason um now it could be a dollar and cents thing of okay well we can’t justify coming out with a

Brand new engine that only is going to have a few years of life because we’re going to electric stuff that’s fine but that’s something they should have figured out a couple of years ago not in the 11th hour here and you know hit the brakes at the last minute so there’s something weird going on behind the scenes i feel like that i you know none of us are aware

Of but you know it just seems very strange the way this whole thing got you know released and announced and the circumstances i would love to hear what you think and your thoughts on it and the comments below but i mean in the meantime one thing i can say is you know i had always assumed that you know the new wx gt um was cbt only because you know the adaptive

Dampers that that car had they were car seats those were probably going to be reserved for the sti version for those who wanted you know those things with the manual transmission now i would assume um you know if super really is you know going to try and i guess make lemons lemonade out of lemons you know the they’ll hopefully now offer the debris gt in a manual

You know for the 2023 multi year possibly um since there is no sti to protect anymore um in that regard uh so you know that could be one thing to kind of soften the blow a little bit for some people yeah it’s just kind of kind of crazy and it also is really a bummer because now at this point as of stuff that’s on sale currently there’s the golf r if you want to

Manage transmission and all-wheel drive i believe that’s it toyota is coming out with the gr corolla that is coming here it’s going to be all-wheel drive and most likely a manual transmission using the grs motor but the best rumors are saying that’ll be maybe close to 300 horsepower so it’s already going to be down on power compared to the sti and speaking of the

Sti the sti according to the dealer stuff is that 2021 was the last one year there’s not even going to be like a 2022 modio there’s not going to be a final edition there’s not going to be anything um to send it off it’s just immediately being killed which is another really kind of like shady thing as far as you know like this was definitely not planned whatever is

Going on i don’t know if they desperately need the factory at the last minute for something or you know what it just it’s all so confusing and kind of just very perplexing um but yeah so supposedly whatever’s out there i’m guessing is out there i don’t know if they’ve already halted production or if they will do so you know very very soon or what the deal is but

I just have to say congratulations to those of you who bought a 2021 sti because your values are probably going to shoot through the roof and um i now feel very very lucky to have been able to drive the stis over the years but also to spend a week with the s209 sti not knowing that that was going to be the last epic most you know highest performing version of the

Wrx sti with a gas powertrain at least that we’ll ever see um which is it’s just crazy to you know i mean you hear all this stuff about everything going electric this and the other and you know usually there’s rumors and you know lead up to stuff but very rarely i mean i’ve been covering automotive news for you know almost a decade here it very rarely does it

Completely blindside you wear there’s no rumors no nothing and just out of thin air boom something comes and smacks you in the face um so this this is crazy um and i’m also many of you who know the channel you know know that i used to be the super wx fan that was my username and i still am a big fan of the car you know i mean over the years i’ve been disappointed

With some of the things subaru did with it and i wish they would have done things differently you know like we all you know can be armchair quarterbacks about you know all this kind of stuff but you know i still hugely admired the car and the fact they kept it going when mitsubishi killed off the evo and whatnot um and uh the sti is fantastic as is the new wrx

For that matter so i was really looking forward to them improving things for in you know new generation sti here so um yeah it’s just it’s a bummer and i mean it’s i even dug out because i’ve been a super dark fan for years that i you know saved all the stuff from back whenever they uh came out with the sti originally back in you know 2003 for the 2004 model year

I mean i even have like the original dealer brochure that i saved and just tore up because i was a 13 year old that was obsessed with this car and you know just all the original stuff i mean you know i’m a huge fan of the sti so this is also very very personal for me that um you know it’s it’s not going to be here maybe we’ll see an electric one in seven or eight

Years but a lot can change in that amount of time as well you know i mean subaru does have you know the deborah x and they do have the brz and they have you know a very performance oriented heart i you know know several of the people that you know work within super i got to know them a little bit on some of the press launches over the past couple of years here

And you know i know that they you know are enthusiasts as well so i’m sure this is really tough for them as well so i’m not sure where this decision came from what’s going on um you know but it’s it also seems like it’s a big waste of money because they definitely have been developing something for the new sti and that’s all just being flushed down the drain so

Yeah it’s uh it’s just a bummer so you know we’ll see i mean you know there was the um s-t-i-e-r-a that was shown at the tokyo auto salon back in january of you know subaru’s gonna be going after a i think a 640 ring time they want with that electric prototype uh obviously that’s i think that thing’s got you know a thousand horsepower or something but you know

Hopefully the stuff that they learned from that will eventually work its way into a new sti that’s electric and maybe we won’t have to wait seven or eight years we’ll have to see um but you know it’s just a bummer because you know i mean it’s just that’s the thing we’ve always loved about them is the turbo and the huge wing which i am almost guaranteeing you there

Will not be a huge wing if it’s an electric car because i would kill the range and stuff so it’s just an end of an era in a way and um yeah so it’s just it’s really a bummer because ever since the very first time i drove an sti on camera i did a review on one back in my early days of doing reviews um ever since then you know i’ve loved the formula it’s been you

Know so so cool and um just the thought of not having stis with you know blow off valves and loud exhausts and um you know that boxer rumble and everything um it’s it’s sad it’s um it’s a bummer so i’m kind of shell-shocked here just you know processing this like i’m sure many of you are as well so i’m sorry if i’m rambling a little bit here but um yeah so uh we’ll

See how this develops obviously this is something i’ll you know keep a close eye on if there’s any new rumors about what’s going on and i mean at least thankfully you know we do have toyota coming in with a new you know entry here with the corolla gr and hopefully this incentivizes volkswagen to keep the golf r around for this new generation version hopefully the

Golf r at least sells like hotcakes so there’s at least one option over 300 horsepower for people that want all-wheel drive in a manual um and uh yeah we’ll just have to see how i maybe you know i’m hoping that like maybe ford will then be tempted to bring back the focus rs here in the states or something to fill the niche um because i mean it’s not like the sti

Sells in huge numbers but it’s certainly a gap of you know enthusiasts who’d need good power and all-wheel drive and want a manual still and now they don’t have that so um it’s really it’s a sad day for enthusiasts honestly and so anyway um that’s about it so yes please let me know all your thoughts in the comments below and um yeah we’ll um you know talk about

This more you know if there’s any kind of new news i will certainly report it as soon as i hear it but yeah so to end the video i think that this calls for some whiskey as i sometimes do here in these uh weekly updates whenever there’s some crazy car news that is worth drinking too this is one of those times the rxsti it’s definitely worth the drink so cheers

To the sti for all the years of brightening up the automotive world the fun that it provided and the um just the positive impact that it had on car culture in general um thank you subaru for bringing it here for as long as you have and um hopefully someday we see some form of an sti again but to the awesome turbocharged gasoline boxer engine powered big winged

Devrex sti cheers to you so anyway that’s it for this video guys um and yeah i will keep you posted if i hear anything else but thank you all very much for watching let me know your thoughts again in the comments below and i’ll see you guys in the next one take care you

Transcribed from video
Subaru officially CANCELS the new WRX STI By Matt Maran Motoring