Subaru Likely Won’t Give the WRX a Redesign Until 2020

But a design “facelift” of sorts is expected for 2018.

byAaron Brown|
Subaru Likely Won’t Give the WRX a Redesign Until 2020
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When the world was introduced to the current generation Subaru WRX and STI in 2013, some were excited to have a redesigned Subaru sports sedan, but many were disappointed that the cars' design was a bit distant from its striking concept car. Fortunately for Subaru, many looked past the sharply designed pre-production show car and bought the new WRXs anyways. Now, almost three years later, it's time to start looking at what's to come next.

When speaking to one of Subaru's senior engineerMotoring.com.au learned that the next major change the WRX sees will come in 2018, but that change will largely consist of an exterior design update.

“The WRX will have a facelift soon, not a full model cycle, because the new model just launched in 2015,” said the engineer, according to Motoring. “That’s only last year."

Well, if we're going to get technical here, the cars actually hit streets in 2014. But, hey! Who's counting?

“The full model cycle will be about four or five years, and that’s when you’ll see a full model," the engineer said. “We would love to have the WRX on the new platform, because the car would be a lot better … but the 2018 will be a facelift only.”

The Subaru employee explained that instead of rushing out a new WRX and attempting to throw something together on the new Subaru Global Platform, the company wants to take its time to properly fine-tune the new car.

Also, remember that this new platform has been engineered so that it could easily be adapted to use electric powertrain hardware with an internal combustion powertrain. 

Just take a moment to imagine an electric-assisted STI. Yeah, instant electric torque and electric-filled power gaps do sound quite nice. Also, though there's nothing awfully wrong with that two-decade-old EJ25 in the North American STI, we wouldn't mind something a bit newer, and we would guess many Subaru owners feel the same way.

“With this new platform and the turbo engine in it, you could do a lot of things," said the engineer.

Alright, fine. We get it. Take your time. But in 2020, you guys better deliver with one truly sick car.

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