Hey Subaru, Can We Get a Version of Performance-B STI Concept, Please?
We'll take any STI, really, but this hatchback will do nicely.
Subaru’s additional big debut at the 2025 Japan Mobility Show was a car that seems more real than its Performance-E STI standmate. As in, there’s a boxer turbo four under the hood, and of course, it utilizes a version of the automaker’s symmetrical all-wheel drive.
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It’s called the Performance-B (badass?) STI Concept, a car that, according to the blurb announcing it, “symbolizes the Subaru performance scene.” Why yes, it does. It also symbolizes a hatchback form, one that Subaru has deleted from the WRX lineup in America.
Not to mention we also have no STI car whatsoever anymore. So, we won’t be picky, if you want to make this car and it has to be a sedan, we can live with that. We could live without the Performance-B’s bananas-looking rear wing, however. Not that we don’t like wings or anything, especially when they’re functional, maybe just tone it down a smidge. We would very much like to keep the "Proud of Boxer" motto on the hood scoop, though.
As for the rest of the car, unlike the extreme, more race-car look of the Performance-E, the Performance-B presents very much like a production model. Oh, yes, it has several aggressive cues front and rear that give it an appropriate STI stance: pronounced front and rear fenders, front end with wide air intakes, and a rear with the requisite aggressive exhaust and lower bumper, augmented by a ground effects kit.
With the Performance-B and E concepts, Subaru is clearly leaning in hard on its, wait for it, performance heritage. We’re here for it, Subaru, do your worst, just maybe not so much on the rear wing.
One of my seminal memories was the few months I spent helping my cousin Steve literally build me from the frame up a super sick 1970 Chevy Nova in his garage just off of 8 Mile (yes, that 8 Mile). Black with white SS stripes. 350 V-8. Blackjack headers. Ladder bars. Four on the floor. Drum brakes all around. Mainly I helped hand him the wrenches, the bondo, the buffing wheel, the beer. When it was finally done and I blistered the tires for the first time, plumes of smoke filling up my rear view, I felt like a true American Bad Ass (pre Kid Rock). That's what it was like for so many of us who grew up in The D back in the day. It was about muscle. Detroit Iron. So when I had an opportunity to get into this crazy business, you best believe I leapt like a bionic cheetah at the chance. Over the past three decades or so (carbon dating myself), I've been honored and privileged to be a part of four outstanding publications in Motor Trend, Automobile, Autoweek, and the Detroit Free Press. And while the salad days back in my cousin's garage seem a million miles away, my love for cars -- and my hometown of Detroit -- have never wavered. Neither has my commitment to delivering the best possible experience to the readers I've served and will continue to serve now and in the future.
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