The Subaru WRX STI’s eventual battery-powered successor could adopt a new name, if a trademark filing is any guide.
Subaru has filed to trademark the STe badge – possibly previewing a new range of high-performance electric cars to succeed the beloved, now-defunct WRX STI turbo sports sedan.
Spotted by US website CarBuzz, the STe trademark has been submitted in Germany – and includes a possible logo for the new nameplate, with a red uppercase ‘ST’ beside a lowercase blue ‘e’ (pictured above, on a new WRX).
The logical use for the ‘STe’ badge would be on a new range of electric performance cars from the Subaru Tecnica International (STI) tuning division, based on Subaru’s next-generation electric cars due closer or after the middle of the decade.
Plans for a new Subaru WRX STI based on the latest WRX were scrapped, the company announced last year, in order to focus on future electric cars to meet emissions regulations.
The decision – which was curiously announced on a Friday afternoon in the US – is believed to have been last minute, as reports out of Japan and the US indicated a new WRX STI was in active development with close to 300kW.
Subaru said at the time it was “exploring opportunities for the next generation Subaru WRX STI, including electrification.”
It is unclear what form the new Subaru STe electric performance cars could take, and if they would include a direct successor to the WRX STI sedan – given sales of traditional passenger cars are declining globally.
The current-generation Subaru WRX range is expected to remain in showrooms until 2030, based on the life cycle of the outgoing model – so any electric replacement may be up to seven years away.
An even bigger departure for the STI (or STe) badge would be a battery-powered SUV, based on one of Subaru’s next-generation electric cars, expected from next year or 2025 onwards.
The company’s only current electric vehicle, the Solterra SUV, was developed in a partnership with Toyota that spawned the closely-related Toyota BZ4X.
Toyota executives have reportedly shown interest in a Gazoo Racing performance version of the BZ4X – which could pave the way for a Solterra STe – but no plans have been locked in.
“We are talking with the GR guys, but it’s still not a concrete idea yet,” Toyota BZ4X chief engineer Daisuke Ido reportedly told UK electric-car website Move Electric last year.
