Subaru W-Wah-X cuts loose

When you think of the Subaru WRX, the first things that come to mind are turbocharged, rally-bred, all-wheel drive performance.

How about guitars and wah-wah pedals? Probably not.
But that’s all going to change, as Subaru has teamed up with Melbourne's very own guitar prodigy, Darren 'Harts' Hart, to turn the latest 2016 WRX into his musical instrument.

The experiment involves replacing the car’s accelerator pedal with a wah guitar effects pedal, which was linked to Harts' guitar, controlling the 'wah-wah' sounds from the guitar as well as the WRX’s four-cylinder boxer engine.

We're not sure the idea will take off in a practical sense – playing the guitar in a car is not easy! – and based on the video it seems like throttle response makes timing tricky. But as marketing ploy it's very cool.

Aimed at engaging a new audience, the campaign was driven by Sydney-based creative agency Disciple. Alan Wilson from the agency explained the unorthodox pairing of the wah pedal and Subaru WRX.

"The Wah pedal has created some of the most distinctive riffs, solos and 'wacka wacka' moments over the past 40 years," he said.

"Many legendary guitarists have performed with it on stage, and the WRX being a legendary performer on the road, it became the perfect match."

Melbourne guitarist Harts has been described by Rolling Stone as "A supernaturally talented young buck who's mastered Hendrix's blistering guitar."

Whilst being driven in the WRX by Richard Bowers of Melbourne band Magic Bones, Harts performed a guitar solo through his own Marshall amp that was also connected to the Wah pedal driving the car.

Andrew Cale, Subaru's general manager of marketing said: "This was an original project that grew out of that classic feeling of barrelling along in a great driving car with a great music track and the volume blasting."

"That’s what made it fun for the team, including Harts."

"All we had to do was throw in a few really passionate technical people, crew, musos – and a WRX of course – and away it went."

All we need now is a Buick Encore…