Leaked: Subaru patents BRZ STI

Less than two weeks after Subaru Tecnica International (STI) boss, Yoshio Hirakawa, told motoring.com.au at the Tokyo show he wanted more standalone STI products, leaked patent images of what appears to be the BRZ STI have surfaced online.

The patent drawings, leaked by car blog Autoguide.com, are claimed to be have been recently submitted by Subaru’s parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries, to the Japanese patent office.

If genuine, it could be the proof Subaru’s go-faster fans have been waiting for: that a more hard-core version of the BRZ coupe has been finally green-lit for production.

STI president, Hirakawa, suggested that he wants to triple the number of cars currently offered by the STI brand in the future, hinting that four models could be in the offing -- including a BRZ STI.

Hirakawa told motoring.com.au his team was already working on potential “advanced technology” that could help make the BRZ STI a reality, saying that electric turbocharging was one such technology being considered.

Other industry commentators, meanwhile, have been quick to warn caution over the existence of the patent images.

In Japan it’s not uncommon for manufacturers to patent recent concepts to prevent third parties stealing designs for aftermarket styling kits.

If that’s the case, Subaru might just be patenting the BRZ STI Performance Concept that was shown at this year’s New York motor show.

That car came fitted with the GT300 EJ20 engine from the BRZ Super GT race car fielded in Japan. Powered by a turbocharged engine the concept was rumoured to generate 225kW/450Nm, which would give the rear-drive coupe a significant performance boost over the current  car’s more measly 147kW/205Nm.

With that level of performance on tap, the BRZ STI concept should easily nail a sub-5.0 second 0-100km/h dash.

The good news is if the BRZ STI is soon confirmed for production Australia is almost guaranteed to get the fast coupe.

Hiroshi Mori, director of product planning at STI, told motoring.com.au in April that: "STI thinks the Australian market is one of the most important markets in the world, so they would like to expand to Australia in the future... I think Australian people understand what STI is”.