Subaru and Toyota are Working Together on a Hot Hatch

Way back at the end of 2019, there were rumors that Subaru and Toyota were working together on the next STI. In fact, I wrote up a blog about it back then which you can read here.

But now, at the beginning of 2021, these rumors are circling again, and this time around, there seems to be more details coming out about this potential partnership.

The origin of the story this time around is an article from the Japanese car magazine Best Car Web, and the most interesting part of the article points to the development of this car to be for the purposes of both Subaru and Toyota to use in the WRC.  Now that is a big deal if it is true.  I would be in full support of Subaru getting back into the WRC no matter the path that they would have to take. 

There are a number of rules that don't exactly fit with anything that Subaru currently runs.  There are some significant differences in terms of the drivetrain, shift mechanism, and differentials (specifically the fact that you cannot run an electronically controlled center differential), and the engine size is limited to 1.6 liters.  Subaru does have a 1.8 Liter turbo engine, so it may not take too much to get it down to the 1.6 Liter limit.  And all of the drivetrain changes would be something that Subaru could work with.  As long as the car is All-Wheel Drive, it would still fall within Subaru's skill set with building a WRC car.

The other issue is size.  The current cars running in the WRC (The Toyota Yaris, Hyundai I20, and the Ford Fiesta ) are much smaller than the current Impreza.  So if there is truth in this rumor, you would have to assume that the Toyota/Subaru Hot Hatch would have to be a good deal smaller than the current Impreza to keep weight down, and give it a good chance to be competitive with the other cars it is running against.  How much smaller could the STI get and still be the STI we expect?

As a side note, this is why Subaru needs to build an STI Justy, or a JuSTI if you will...

Now that this rumor has had a few days to be talked about and develop, here are the high points.

The engine should be a version of the FA24DIT that is in the current Ascent.

The Drivetrain will either be some version of the GR Yaris (which would make sense from the WRC standpoint), or a version of the current STI drivetrain.  From what it looks like the consensus is that the drivetrain will be a version of the one currently used in the STI.

This car may be released as a GR Carolla under the Toyota badge.

One article has a scheduled reveal date of September 2022 which is oddly specific, and way too far in the future for my liking.

Between the BRZ/GT86  and the soon to come electric car that Subaru and Toyota have developed together, it is not too far of a leap to believe that the two manufacturers would work together on another chassis as well.  And I will say that the details that are coming out about this next car having a 2.4 liter FA24DIT engine and the STI drivetrain, this all fits with my expectation of what the next STI will have.  But the reveal date being almost 18 months out is just too long for us to wait to get an idea of what the next STI will be.

In theory, the next STI was supposed to be on sale some time in 2022 like the new BRZ.  At least that was the idea at one point I think.  The further that we get into 2021 with no details about the next STI, the more likely it is that it is getting pushed back further, and may not actually land in 2022.

I think that we will just have to wait and see with this one, and more than anything let's just keep our fingers crossed that the next STI at least makes over 350 whp when it does finally land.

-  Jon Cooley

Here are some of the articles that covered this story:

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