Subaru built its overseas reputation in the late 20th century by appealing directly to gearheads, primarily through its successful World Rally Championship program that showed its cars were not only rapid, but also immensely effective off-road. Its production offerings, like the Impreza WRX STI, illustrated that it could build machines that could embarrass most other performance cars on the black stuff, too.

 

Subsequently, in an attempt to become more mainstream, it has largely moved away from such enthusiast cars in the last decade or so. The same can be said for the wider automotive industry, but the Japanese brand looks to be embarking on an about-turn when it comes to providing cars that gearheads actually want. It could be that we are about to be treated to something rather tantalizing.