Subaru has confirmed plans to drop the Impreza and WRX STI in 2013, in the United Kingdom. It appears the era of spicy, relatively affordable, all-wheel drive performance cars, which are more like road-going rally refugees, is drawing to an inevitable end. What a shame. It may have only just arrived in the South Africa, but the Mitsubishi Evo X was the first to go from U.K. price lists earlier this year, now it appears its arch-rival has no other recourse but to follow suit.
The demand has dwindled as the performance model can no longer compete with more modern rivals in terms of design, interior quality, performance and emissions. How much longer is the Subaru Impreza WRX STI going to be available in South Africa is the next question we’d like answered.
More than the speedy WRX STI version, Subaru recently launched a new (normal) Impreza throughout U.S. and Japan, but the company resisted offering it in the U.K. due to a perceived lack of demand. According to reports, a Subaru said: “Currently we have no plans to bring in further Impreza and WRX STI stock after the current stock sells out – which should take us to early summer depending on demand.”
“Subaru is concentrating on what it’s really good at – so we’re concentrating on SUVs and the BRZ – we’re hoping to get more BRZs next year to satisfy strong demand for that car”, Subaru said. We’re not sure if we’ll see the unassuming Legacy dropped from the Subaru price list in future, but if so, this would place enormous pressure on the upcoming Forester.
