Subaru Aus: “STI is absolutely not dead” 

Subaru Australia general manager Scott Lawrence has insisted the brand’s haloed STI performance division is far from dead and will eventually start providing genuine driver’s vehicles again. 

Speaking to carsales at the media launch of the new-generation Subaru Outback this week, Lawrence was adamant STI was alive and well, with plenty of “exciting” work going on behind the scenes. 

“We are constantly discussing with Subaru Corporation about performance, and performance broadly, not just STI,” he said. 

“STI is absolutely not dead, and you would’ve seen a whole bunch of announcements and concepts from Subaru Corporation – there is a lot of work going on for the future of that.” 

Said movements primarily extend to the Subaru Performance-B STI Concept and Performance-E STI Concept shown in October last year, not to mention the 2025 S210 Prototype, the controversial 2022 announcement that STI would be moving away from turbo-petrols and into the electric space, and the resulting Solterra STI Concept. 

As the world keeps waiting with bated breath for the release of a full-fat internal combustion STI, it seems EVs are still very much part of the picture, especially locally. 

“For us, there is a part that BEVs will play in the broader performance story,” Lawrence said. 

“But just know, STI is not dead – [there’s] really exciting work going on in the background.” 

We still have no clue when or ultimately if Subaru will revive a genuine turbocharged STI performance halo for global markets, but we’ve already got our first taste of how battery-electric models will factor into its ‘performance story’. 

Coming next quarter is the 2026 Subaru Trailseeker – the all-electric counterpart to the new-generation Outback – which sports a 280kW dual-motor powertrain good for 0-100km/h in 4.4 seconds, making it both the brand’s most powerful and quickest factory model to date. 

Lawrence wouldn’t be drawn on a timeline as to when something worthy of a true STI badge would emerge, but we do know fans are slowly losing patience.

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