Is Subaru bringing back the WRX?
There’s no mistaking this profile: the bonnet scoop and rear wing are enough to tell you what the car is. The Subaru Impreza WRX STI. And this champion of world rallying and every boy (and girl) racer’s 1990s dream car is on its way back. You can almost see the blue paint and hear the whistle of the turbo from here…
Who is behind the latest hero-car continuation project? Who else but Prodrive which has teased us with this image under the headline “P25: An icon redefined.” The Banbury-based motorsport specialists are promising full disclosure on Wednesday 25th May.
The Impreza is an icon all right – Prodrive Imprezas delivered multiple World Rally Championship titles for Subaru and drivers including most famously Colin McRae. His victory on the RAC Rally in 1995 made him Britain’s first World Rally Champion and brought Subaru the first of three consecutive manufacturers' titles.
What “redefining” this icon will entail is less clear. A continuation run of models faithful to the original? A restomod? It couldn’t go electric…could it?
And why P25? It’s likely that’s a reference to the 25th anniversary of the WRC car and a logical follow-up to the limited-edition street model called P1 that Prodrive cooked up for Subaru in 2000.
Like the P25 appears to be, that used the two-door Impreza STI Type RA coupe body. The P1 had a styling makeover by McLaren F1 designer Peter Stevens and featured Subaru’s 2.0-litre turbocharged boxer engine with 280PS (206kW). It’s highly collectible today of course.
Will that motor make a comeback here, or will there be something more in tune with the times? If it hails from Banbury and has got Prodrive’s name on it, it’s sure to be more than interesting, Prodrive only has six World Rally titles, eight World Sportscar titles, six Le Mans titles and four British Touring Car titles to its name, after all.
Prodrive
P25
Subaru
Impreza
WRX
