The new Subaru WRX is a more grown-up beast than before, with less out-there looks than its wild predecessors.
We also know there won’t be a WRX STI this time around – but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it look a bit angrier.
Subaru Australia has detailed a range of styling and lifestyle add-ons for both the WRX sedan and Sportswagon.
In the case of the sedan, the raciest options are a range of styling packages that add prominent front splitter, side skirts, and diffuser add-ons in either black or pink.
Each of the parts making up the styling packs can be purchased individually, along with items like a gurney-style rear spoiler, more prominent exhaust finishers, and STI-branded wheels.
Owners keen to add a bit more STI credibility to their new WRX can also add a branded shift knob to their manual car, or LED backlit side plate sills.
The Sportswagon can be accessorised with a roof box, roof racks, and a range of other load-lugging add-ons, along with more subtle styling tweaks such as a lip spoiler.
Subaru has previously indicted the STI brand will live on in some form locally, even though the WRX STI is dead as we know it. These styling add-ons are likely just the beginning.
“We acknowledge the long love affair Australians have had with the WRX STI, and the STI brand,” Subaru Australia managing director Blair Read told media.
“The STI engineers and that team, that did all these great things, haven’t packed up and gone home. They’re still there,” Mr Read told CarExpert.
“Part of that change in direction with the STI brand is how it can play a role not just in one model variant, but across all the product. There is exciting options and development in a number of different areas that will feed its way into all the different models,” he said.
In a similar vein to Renault RS-Line, the ‘Tuned by STI’ badge is likely to feature on cars packing a range of fast-looking accessories or handling upgrades instead of more power.
That’s potentially a slightly different formula to what we’ve previously seen from Subaru models Tuned by STI.
The 2008 Liberty GT tuned by STI, for example, was a limited-edition featuring 10kW and 11Nm more than the stock model, backed by a Bilstein suspension setup and a range of exterior add-ons.
The BRZ tS tuned by STI, on the other hand, featured a range of handling-oriented improvements over the stock car, but no more power.
The STI badge could also be dusted off for limited-edition versions of the WRX, although what that will look like hasn’t been locked in just yet.
“In some ways, there being no STI variant allows us to explore some very cool and different options around the likes of future special editions, and Tuned by [STI]. Watch this space for some more activity in that area,” Mr Read told media.
Standard WRX Sportswagon 
Standard WRX sedan
MORE: Everything Subaru WRX
