For nearly 2 years now there have been rumors of Subaru working towards a hybrid version of the WRX STI. Since there were no statements or quotes to go off of, these rumors remained pure speculation. Until now, that is.

Chris Hawken, Subaru's U.K. marketing director, made a statement that very indirectly confirms these rumors:

"[Subaru's Global Platform] has been designed to take hybrid and electric. That is the way STI is going,"


While it's been known that Subaru was looking into hybrids and electrics, this is the first time it's been tied directly to the STI itself. When questioned about why the STI might go electric, he claimed it would be due to emissions requirements.

"We are definitely working on downsized turbo engines. With Euro 6c coming in next September, cars like the existing STI have to stop. By 2019 and 2020 manufacturers have to show a massive drop in CO2. The future is petrol, hybrid, and electric."


There remains to be no direct confirmation of an electric STI, but Hawken's roundabout way of talking about hybrids and STIs leave for some fairly convincing evidence towards their intentions for the model.

Regardless of how electric they may be, Subaru has already stated that a new WRX or STI won't appear for at least another 2 and a half years from now. I guess we'll see what they decide to do during summer in 2020.