Will we see a new Subaru Forester STI in the future?

Will Subaru be expanding their motorsport division STI, to include a new division that would include mainstream cars like the Subaru Forester? In an interview with Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) who is the parent company of Subaru, their corporate communications spokesman Masato Saito talked to CarAdvice at the Geneva Motor Show. Will we see Subaru and STI form a performance division similar to Mercedes-Benz performance division AMG, Nissan’s NISMO and BMW’s M division?

Masato Saito from FHI, says in-house tuner and motorsports partner STI may evolve into a performance sub-division in the future to rival Nissan’s Nismo sports arm. At the Geneva Motor Show, Saito told CarAdvice that “creating a family of high-performance STI variants positioned at the top of a number of model lines was a good idea.”

Although Masato Saito wouldn’t confirm the plans to create this new Subaru performance division for the Japanese automaker, he did say, “In the future, there is some possibility.” We do know that Subaru and STI will continue with producing the performance WRX STI and also some Limited Edition tS, “tuned by STI”, variants of other models.

We’ve seen Subaru launch the BRZ tS in Japan, the Forester tS in Russia and the LEVORG STI in Japan and Europe recently. Subaru also offered STI versions of the Legacy sedan (Liberty in Australia), and Exiga. But these have been low volume production runs of between only 200 and 800 vehicles. Subaru has never had a full lineup of Subaru-STI performance vehicles at the top of the regular production model lines like Mercedes-AMG.

Performance enthusiasts around the globe would love to see a BRZ STI two-door sports coupe, Forester STI, or a Legacy STI performance sedan in the future. These would set the brand apart from the crowd and further give the brand credibility with performance and racing enthusiasts. Subaru has already begun to offer the BRZ with an STI Sports Package for buyers in Australia. STI now offers a styling and performance accessories for the two-door sports coupe.

Subaru Motorsport, directed by STI already has an expanded race agenda with the Super GT series which includes the BRZ GT300, 2015 WRX STI they run in the Nurburgring 24-hour endurance race, WRX STI in the WRC and ERC, and the 2015 WRX STI in the Rally America and Global RallyCross series. These race cars help Subaru develop the technology for their performance production models like the WRX STI.

It’s good to know Subaru and STI think that creating a family of high-performance STI variants like a new Forester STI is a good idea. We’ll continue to follow what Subaru has up their sleeve for future performance models.

Other Subaru STI stories of interest.

• STI enhanched 2014 Subaru BRZ tS revealed in Japan
• LEVORG STI could point to more performance cars from STI