Hardcore Scooby - new Subaru Impreza WRX STI Type UK

The launch of the all new third generation Subaru Impreza and in particular the WRX STI Type UK didn’t initially meet with approval from the stalwarts and petrolheads who religiously support, via their many clubs and websites, the Scooby heritage.

When the new Impreza range was announced last year the fact that the car had gone from a four-door saloon to being a marginally smaller five-door hatchback didn’t meet with approval from the hardcore UK followers.

Then when the first pictures appeared of the top of the range WRX STI, the basis for their new World Rally Championship car, the loyal followers of Scooby fashion were even more hostile to the new Impreza’s design.

However the Impreza is a world car and so the design had to meet the requirements of retail customers around the globe to increase sales potential. Just as important for Subaru the new Impreza had to meet the requirements for it to become a leading force again in World Rallying and that dictates size and form.

Saloon to hatch

Like the Lancer Evolution the Impreza saloon had become too big and too heavy to compete against the smaller, more compact and lighter Ford Focus and Citroen C4 WRC cars.

Unfortunately for Mitsubishi the new generation Lancer Evolution X is even larger and heavier than their outgoing Evo IX so its motorsport days look numbered.

Like it or not the new Impreza is now a five-door hatchback. But the good news is that the WRX STI Type UK for this country costs around £1,500 less than the old Impreza WRX STI saloon model and there is more power and torque as well.

The newcomer weighed in originally this year at a realistic £24,995 but that has now increased to £25,090 due to the new VED costs announced in the Budget. International Motors UK expects to sell 3,400 Imprezas in the UK this year of which 1,200 will be WRX STI Type UK models.

Impreza sales

Subaru sales in the UK fell by 17 per cent last year to just over 6,000 units but Lawrence Good IM’s managing director said recently that this reduction was due to the run-out programme for the old model Impreza, Legacy and Forrester ranges.

The arrival of the new Impreza range starts a three year cycle of new models and the introduction of a long awaited and much needed diesel engine. Good said that for 2008 he has a Subaru UK sales target of 8,000 vehicles.

For the first three months of this year Subaru’s UK sales have increased by 5 per cent, whilst the overall new car market has fallen by nearly 1 per cent.

Good is on record as saying that Subaru has the most varied types of customers in the industry, ‘petrolheads’ who love Impreza rally based cars through to the ‘landed gentry’ who loyally buy Forrester, Impreza and Legacy models.

He said Subaru is still very much a niche brand attracting a selective group of customers, 90 per cent of which are retail buyers.

Good said there is huge Subaru brand loyalty including small business user-chooser buyers and this business sector will increase now they have the 2.0-litre, ‘Boxer’ turbodiesel engine option. It is Subaru’s first diesel engine and the world’s first flat-four’ diesel unit for passenger cars.

Subaru have now completed the first phase roll-out of the new all-wheel drive Impreza range with prices starting at £12,990 right through to the 2.5-litre WRX STI Type UK at £25,090.

The Impreza range will receive Subaru’s new ‘Boxer’ flat-four diesel engine option at the end of this year.

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