There are many skilled artists today who create cars that don’t exist and post them online. That is, there is no information available about the individuals who will enter fake car names into AI picture generators, which will likely result in poor outcomes. These images of a Subaru WRX race car dressed in streetwear, on the other hand, struck a different chord because they came straight from Subaru Motorsports. “What if the Subaru WRX ARA25 was sold as a road car?” read the message that Subaru’s U.S. rally team, run by the great people at Vermont SportsCar, sent earlier this week. The team shared pictures of the WRX ARA25 rally car, which was white and blue, with no graphics, and featured gold wheels. Some people offered to give their kidneys to help, while others begged for a new STI. The words that followed were common. That being said, this mental practice is a lot harder than almost every Impreza or WRX the company has ever sold, even the famous 22B. Previously, homologation specials had to be sold as road cars in order to be eligible as race cars. That’s not the case now. It’s possible that we got pictures like these thirty or forty years ago. The 22B STI featured a Type R chassis with flared fenders and numerous technical improvements despite its resemblance to Subaru’s WRC car from the late 1990s. Subaru built it even though it wasn’t required to; it did so to honor its rallying win. Similarly, Subaru would have to make its goal of bringing the ARA25 road car to life a reality. We all want it to do that. Even though I have changed my mind about the WRX’s look since it was first shown, it still is not great. The form of the back end is very tight and squeezed in an unattractive manner, and there is excessive cladding. But get rid of all the black plastic and replace it with real carbon fiber. Additionally, widen the fenders and tuck the body slightly under the front wheels. All of a sudden, you have carefully shown that every negative thing I said about the current age of sports sedans was wrong. That’s what race cars are known for. Even though I try not to dream, when the OEM or its race team asks me to, that’s a whole different story. It’s possible that the STI took a break. But it’s clear that the WRX still needs a real “giant-killer” to go up against cars like the Golf R, GR Corolla, and Civic Type R. As a result of its SUVs, Subaru now has a huge share of the market. This makes me hopeful that the company will invest a significant amount in a flagship performance car again. Those are the optimistic views. The pessimistic ones make me wonder why the Subaru rally squad decided to respond violently to such a rude comment.
