Subaru recently posted a sample video on its Japanese social media pages, showing that a new Subaru WRX STI will be released next month. The short film shows and sounds a WRX model’s smooth boxer engine, and an STI emblem is on the grille. At the end of the “Coming soon” film, the reveal date, January 9, 2026, is shown. We were too busy drinking eggnog and opening gifts on Christmas Day to pay attention to Subaru’s interesting news. The company posted a preview video of a new WRX STI model on its Japanese social media pages. They are planning to reveal it at the Tokyo Auto Salon, which runs from January 8 to January 10, 2026. The 12-second video starts with a blurry picture of a blue WRX, but the STI badge on the bonnet is easy to see. We also see what appears to be a larger hood scoop than the standard WRX. Before the video cuts to snow-covered trees that hide the STI, we hear the fast boxer four-cylinder engine revving. Other clips show the car’s back quarter panel with the body cover still on. In the end, the video shows a fuzzy picture of the car speeding by the camera, a close-up of the headlight and grille pattern, and a picture of the back window from above. This suggests that the new WRX STI will still be available as a sedan. Before this December 25th hint came out, Subaru had been building hype for the STI’s return. In late October, the Tokyo Auto Show featured two concept cars that both brought back the hatchback body style, which hadn’t been used since the 2021 model year. Along with showing off those hot-hatch ideas, Subaru wants to use customer feedback on the Performance-B STI and Performance-E STI cars to help plan future powertrains. Since the STI is clearly based on the current-generation WRX, this decision won’t affect it when it comes out in about two weeks.
